Not What it Seems
by EveryBodyHatesHugo815
Summary: Agent Laney Collins gets assigned to dig up dirt on the infamous Mob Boss, and the only way to do it is to go undercover as a fellow inmate at Fox River.
1. Chapter 1

_** Hey guys! So this is my first fanfiction story and it's just an idea I had, since no one ever writes about Abruzzi! Feel free to review and give suggestions, but please don't flame! I'm not a pro writer, so if you don't like it, don't read it. Enough said. Anyways, Enjoy! :D**_

I took my first steps off the bus and took a long look at my new home. I could smell the rusty iron bars that enclosed the yard in front of me. I took one deep breath and thought to myself,

_Welcome home Laney._

I trudged my feet into the Fox River State Penitentiary. It just so nicely worked out that most of the inmates were out in the yard when I made my grand appearance. I could hear the cheers and whistles, but I refused to give them the satisfaction by turning and looking at them. Once the doorways opened I held my breath and turned around to face the guards. I hadn't exactly learned their names yet, but one looked at me.

"Home sweet home," he said.

The other guards laughed and smirked with him, but I just shrugged my shoulders, raised my eyebrows and kept moving forward. I would not let these assholes affect me. I kept walking through the halls and I could tell that I was gaining a lot of attention. After all, it wasn't every day that a woman gets sent to a men's maximum security prison. I had to laugh at myself when I thought that no woman has ever been sent to a men's maximum security prison. I kept looking at the floor watching my feet go one right after the other, but somehow I managed to look up right as we were passing the medical wing. I saw the nurses give me looks that they were sorry to see me in here, but I didn't show any response. I learned very quickly that showing signs of weakness was a big mistake. At that moment, however I noticed one doctor sitting in the back through a big glass window. She was just sitting at her desk, but right as we crossed paths our eyes met and instead of a look of sadness, it was a look of understanding.

I turned and looked at my guard, "hey who is that doctor in there?"

He looked at me up and down then looked and the doctor and replied, "That, little slice, is Dr. Sara Tancredi."

Ignoring the derogatory statement when he told me her name, I looked back at Sara. Somehow I had a gut feeling that we would be interacting together somehow. When we made it through the medical wing, the guard directed me to an office looking room. I saw a secretary sitting behind her desk flirting with another guard, although she didn't want anyone to know about it.

"Yes officer Geary can I help you?" she said blushing a berry pink and turning away from the other guard.

The other guard played it off too and pulled on his hat a little.

"The warden said he wanted to speak to the female prisoner once she got here," replied Geary. He grabbed me by the elbow and led me toward the back door. I felt a little apprehensive as he pushed me through the door and I was staring at two other men.

"And you must be Laney Collins, our newest inmate," laughed the warden as he gestured for me to sit down.

I obeyed and for the first time since I had arrived, I felt completely safe.

"Or should we call you Agent Collins," joked the warden.

"No sir Laney will do, I am not an agent yet, I just work the undercover operations," I explained crossing my legs and placing my handcuffed wrists out on top of my knees.

"Well my name is Warden Pope and this is officer Bellick. He and I are the_ only_ two people in this facility that know that you work with the FBI. We do this to minimize the chance of you getting busted."

I nodded my head in agreement, I knew the policy.

"From what your supervisor briefed me on, you were to be sent to Fox River undercover as an inmate to discover some evidence from the mob boss John Abruzzi. We have placed you in the same cell with Abruzzi and put you on PI, but I have to give you a word of caution. To make the operation real we have to treat you like an inmate, and that means you have to act like an inmate. Some of the inmates aren't the kindest folks around, and they won't treat you like royalty. At any signs of aggression you must suppress your training to take them down and act as a normal person would act, do you follow me?"

I stared at Warden Pope with my eyes feeling like they were about to bulge from my face. He didn't beat around the bush with anything. Beads of sweat started forming on the back of my neck and I started to realize the reality of my situation. I wasn't going to be able to just walk around the prison like I was protected because in reality I wasn't.

I turned my head slightly and replied, "Yes Pope I understand completely."

The warden nodded at my agreement and turned his attention to Bellick.

"Officer Bellick here will be here to assist you if you absolutely need it, but he will be forced to treat you like an inmate as well. I hope this operation is a success and good luck to you Laney Collins."

I stood at the call of my name and shook my bound hands with his huge hands. He held them for just a moment and then gestured for Bellick to get me ready for Gen Pop. I trotted behind Bellick as we strode through the rest of the prison. I kept my head down the entire trip and if I do say so myself, I looked like a poor damsel in distress that anyone would feel sorry for. We stopped at the bathroom area and Bellick turned to face me.

"Alright con, you got 10 minutes to take a shower and get changed before I escort you into Gen Pop." He winked at me and I tried to conceal my smile as I opened the door to the bathroom.

I took one step inside the bathroom and nearly ran out screaming the other direction. The smell was so overwhelming that my eyes were tearing and burning. I leaned against the door so I could gain my composure. I heard Bellick tap on the door and shout 7 minutes left. I hurried out of my clothes and into the shower; I didn't know when I would get the chance at another shower so I took advantage of it. Although, I wouldn't necessarily call that a shower, the pressure sucked, and incredibly freezing, but I guess prisoners don't get to choose. I put on my blue pants with a white tank top, but decided to leave the upper half of the suit down. I pulled my dark wet hair back into a ponytail and my bangs curled around my face. With one deep breath and returned to Bellick.

"If you don't mind me asking Miss Collins," asked Bellick as he escorted me to the main facility of Fox River, "aren't you a little young to be working for the FBI?"

I had to smile at his question. I was a little surprised that Warden Pope hadn't asked this question earlier because it is the question I usually get asked.

"Well officer Bellick, if you must know I am 24 years old and I got involved with the FBI due to my father who got me the undercover job."

"I see Miss Collins and I really hope this works out and you don't die in the process."

I stopped dead in my tracks as those words came out of Bellick's mouth. I realized that where I stopped was right outside Gen Pop and I thought to myself

_Here we go Laney, now is the moment of truth._

Bellick released my arm and winked at me as he made his way onto the main floor of Gen Pop. I peeked through the cage to see several cons staring at him with nothing short of hatred as he paused at the center of the floor.

"Alright cons, I have a special treat for you today. As of today we have a new shipment of prisoners coming in, but there is one special con that I wanted to personally introduce to you."

The smirk on Bellick's face made me want to vomit. He talked about me like I was a possession for all of the other inmates.

"This con is different from any other con that has ever been sent to Fox River. Without further ado, I present Miss Laney Collins."

The guards behind me shoved me on the back and I was sent right smack dab in the middle of Gen Pop. I glanced up at all of the cons who looked shocked and interested that a girl was standing before them. I could hear the whistles and cheers as I slowly marched towards Bellick. All the security that I felt as a federal agent disappeared in those few seconds of humiliation. As I reached Bellick, he grabbed me by my waist and pulled me close to his face. I could smell his breath next to my ear and I realized that he would be no friend of mine.

"Now I am sure that all of you lucky cons are interested in knowing who gets to share a cell with this little beauty," he said shoving me so hard that I fell to the floor.

I felt like crying I was so humiliated, but I knew that I couldn't.

"And the lucky winner is John Abruzzi. Let her feel welcome boys."

Bellick exited Gen Pop laughing and leaving me alone.

I finally reached my cell after countless stops from the other inmates. I got asked several times if I wanted to change cells, and I blew off each offer. There was no way that I was going to let anyone of these sickos get the best of me. I was there for a reason, and the sooner that I could get that done the sooner I could leave that hell hole. When I entered my new home my "cellie" was already sitting inside.

"Ciao Bella," he spoke as he leaned forward from his bunk to greet me.

Out of instinct, I started to back up in a defensive mode, but caught myself and stopped before I exited the cell.

"Hello Mr. Abruzzi," I said softly and moved further into the cell.

I really didn't know what to do with my stuff, but he quickly responded.

"You can take the bottom bunk, I sleep on the top," he spoke softly and laid back down on his bunk.

I didn't even know how I was going to respond to that so I just nodded my head and sat down on the bottom bunk. The first thing I noticed was a nice blood stain on the bottom of the top bunk. The sweat started to gather on my forehead and Abruzzi must have sensed my apprehension.

He hopped down onto the floor and paced over to the closed bars.

"So what is a beautiful young woman like yourself doing in this sort of place?"

I just continued to stare at him and played with my ponytail a little bit. I was trying to gather my thoughts and continued to say,

" I guess it had to be something pretty awful to get into here." I choked a little bit on the last words, but Abruzzi turned to face me and laughed.

"Well then my dear I guess you do belong here after all." He returned to the top bunk and was staring at something concealed in his hand.

Not wanting to start any grief on my first day in prison, I quietly unpacked all of my things and neatly placed them on my bunk. The last thing I pulled out from my box was a small journal. I pressed it against my chest and glanced to make sure that my "cellie" couldn't see me. Inside this small black leather journal, I was going to record anything I could use in court to bring Abruzzi to justice. I needed to find a safe place to keep it so I climbed against the wall and pulled on the mattress a little. I stuck the journal underneath the mattress and place my box on top of that spot. If Abruzzi ever found that journal I would be as good as dead.

After a few minutes sitting in silence, I shuffled over to the barred door. I glanced around at all the inmates in their own cells doing their own things. Some inmates were playing cards, some were sitting reading quietly, and some of the cells even had the sheets pulled over their doors. I decided I didn't want to know what was going on behind the sheet. As my eyes glanced upward I noticed one cell in particular. Sitting on the bunks was Latino man scribbling on paper, but I was more interested in his cellie standing against the door just like me. I recognized him from the bus that brought me in with the other inmates. He was looking around the prison too very anxiously and it puzzled me.

"Do you know that fish sweetheart?" said Abruzzi from behind me.

I jumped around to see him just a few inches from my face.

"No, he was just on the same bus that brought me here," I whispered as I made my way back to my bunk. "And what is a fish?"

Abruzzi laughed again and replied, "Fish is the nickname for all of the new inmates here in Fox River; that is until they get new nicknames."

"So is my nickname fish?" I asked.

It was a stupid question, but I was trying to build a conversation with John early from the start.

"I don't think many of the boys in here will be calling you fish, but don't be surprised if they decide to call you something else."

At that comment I smiled and Abruzzi noticed and sat next to me on my bunk. I glanced over to where my journal was underneath the mattress, so I switched positions so my body could conceal the spot.

"The warden told me that you run Prison Industries and that I would be working on it," I spoke wanting to see a reaction.

"You don't have to act like such a girl, in here we call it PI and if that is what the warden said then welcome to the crew."

We just stared at each other for a few moments, but he must have gotten bored because he returned to his top bunk. I leaned against the wall for a little longer my nerves were starting to calm down. I ran my fingers through my hair several times to pass the time when the guards called for lights out. I went over to the sink to wash my hands and face, also the soap choice wasn't my first preference. I settled back down onto my bunk and just stared at that blood stain above me.

"So you clearly know who I am, but I don't even know your name Bella," whispered Abruzzi after the lights were turned out. I twisted my body so my back was against the wall.

"Laney, my name is Laney," I spoke so softly that I wasn't sure if John would be able to hear me.

"Well Laney, welcome to Fox River."


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't want to follow Abruzzi around the yard the entire time, but I didn't want to be alone either. Abruzzi said he didn't mind me walking with him, but I wasn't too sure what his crowd thought of me yet. They weren't used to having a girl around so I wasn't surprised to see their apprehension. Abruzzi, to my surprise, was being kind and almost protective over me. If any of the other inmates looked at me the wrong way, he would take care of it. I wasn't brought here so Abruzzi could act like my father, he was a criminal and he needed to be stopped.

Abruzzi and his crew made their way over to the table and I was left standing behind him. They started playing cards when the new inmate I saw the other day approached them.

"What do you want fish," Abruzzi said coldly continuing to deal the cards.

I watched the prisoner take a breath and continue with complete confidence.

"John Abruzzi my name is Michael Scofield and I need you to get me on PI," he said sticking his hands inside his pockets.

Abruzzi didn't seem fazed, which irritated me, so I started to look around the yard. It looked to me that most of the inmates were separated my race with the African Americans on one side and the Latinos on the other. I noticed though sitting by himself an older man petting what looked like a cat. I started to approach him and saw Michael reach into his pocket. I kept walking away from Abruzzi's table and heard him saying something about a duck.

"She's really beautiful," I spoke to the old man as I reached my hand down and brushed it against the cat's ear.

He looked up at me and gave me a warm smile.

"Why thank you, young lady," he spoke and gestured for me to sit down next to him.

"My name is Laney," I said taking a spot next to the man.

He reached his hand out and I accepted it shaking it very lightly.

"Charles Westmoreland."

I smiled and continued petting the cat. I learned over the next few minutes that the cat's name was Marilyn, and that Charles has been in Fox River for many years. He genuinely seemed like a nice guy who made some mistakes that caused him to hit a pedestrian driving and he was arrested for reckless homicide.

"Alright Charles I need you to help me stay alive while I am here so I need to know the inmates to avoid," I said glancing back towards Abruzzi.

Charles smiled and stroked the back of Marilyn.

"Clearly you have met Abruzzi and his crew," Charles chuckled, "you should be careful on crossing them. You seem like a nice girl so I will help you out with all the inmates you should watch your back around."

"Thank you Charles," I said shaking his hand one last time.

I gave him a warm smile and made my way back to Abruzzi. He must have noticed my absence because when I returned he pulled on my wrist and drug me to the table.

"Did you have a nice conversation with oldie over there?" He laughed and his cronies soon joined him.

I didn't get the joke because I thought that Charles was a nice man.

"Yes I did actually, Charles is a good person who bad things have happened to," I defended getting back up off the table.

"I bet he didn't tell you the whole story did he Bella?" Abruzzi said.

When I gave him a look of confusion he smiled a satisfactory smile and continued,

"His real name is not Charles Westmoreland. The rumor is that the old man you see over there is the one and only D.B. Cooper. He hit that woman with his car because he was trying to escape the police after stealing over 1 million dollars. When he was brought in, though, he wouldn't tell where he hid the money and denied ever since that he is not D.B. Cooper."

My jaw had dropped after hearing Abruzzi's tale. He of course didn't know this but I already knew everything about D.B. Cooper. My father would tell me the stories about how he would evade the police and that he ended up hijacking a plane. When the plane went down, he took off and stole a car, the car that ended up hitting the pedestrian. I turned back to face Charles and watched him pet his cat so gently. I would have never guessed that the man sitting across the yard could be the famous D.B. Cooper.

Abruzzi laughed at my reaction and then returned back to his crew. I ignored them and saw that inmate called Michael leaning against the fence talking to his "cellie". Once more I ventured off from Abruzzi and made my way over to the two men.

"You're the fish right?" I joked but neither of them seemed to enjoy the humor very much,

"I'm Laney."

At that, their expressions softened up a bit.

"Laney, I am Michael Scofield." He said reaching out to take my hand.

I grabbed and it was a very warm touch.

"Hola chica my name is Fernando Sucre." He had a very warm smile and I could tell they were both nice people.

"I am not even going to ask how you ended up in Fox River, aye mami," spoke Sucre shaking his head.

I smirked and I knew that he was going to keep my entertained.

I noticed Michael was watching through the fence across the yard a ways. My eyes followed to where he was watching and some other inmates were let out into a separate part in the yard. I watched Michael's eyes change from intense to sincere as one inmate made his way onto the yard.

"That is Linc the Sink," said Sucre.

I stood there shocked as I watched the infamous Lincoln Burrows stroll across the yard. Lincoln Burrows was charged with killing Vice President Reynolds' brother. To this day he claims his innocence, but the evidence was not is his favor. I watched him walk along and he looked almost sad. That is when I realized that I would be sad too if I received the death penalty and my time was almost up,

Michael turned away from the fence, "I know who Lincoln Burrows is; he is my brother."

Sucre and I both turned our attention to face Michael. I couldn't believe that Lincoln and Michael were brothers, but I also thought it was a strange coincidence that Michael and Lincoln were in the same prison so close to Lincoln's execution date.

I chatted with Sucre and Michael for a little longer, and while I did I was more convinced that Michael robbed a bank so he could be sent to Fox River. The question was why?

I headed back to where I first was, but I noticed that Abruzzi and his crew were nowhere to be seen. Impatiently, I stomped around the yard for a little while, but was unable to find them when an officer yelled that yard time was over. I figured that Abruzzi must have headed back to the cell so I started making my way with the rest of the prisoners. So far I couldn't think of anything that I could write down in my journal that Abruzzi was doing anything suspicious. I hung my head in defeat, but I felt something grab me by the hair and yank me backwards.

I was dragged into a storage room and thrown against a wall. I struggled to fight them off, knowing very well that I could take any one of them, but I had to remember Pope's warning. Not trying to hard I kicked my leg back, hoping to make contact. When I felt my foot hit something solid I smiled to myself, but not for very long, because someone pulled me back by my hair and slammed my face hard into the wall. I let out a small whimper as I felt warm liquid stream down my face. The other men quickly pinned my arms and I was stuck with nowhere else to go. I could hear the men behind me laughing and I was fighting the tears when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Just relax Bella, no need to be frightened," Abruzzi said from behind.

I couldn't see him but I recognized his crew holding down my arms.

"What are you doing?" I asked attempting to break free of their hold, but they only squeezed tighter.

"Well, I can't just have anyone hanging around with my crew, and I need to know that you can be trusted. We have to put you through this little test and if you pass then you will be just fine Bella."

I swallowed and my heart started to race. I looked over and saw one of the men reach into his shirt and pull out a shank. At the sight of that I started to panic.

"Please no, no I can be trusted, you don't have to do this, please no!"

The man just laughed as one of them started pulling up the back of my shirt so my lower back was exposed. I wiggled and squirmed with all of my might, but it was no use.

Abruzzi came in right behind with the shank in his hand.

"Scusa Bella," he whispered in my ear.

I clenched my teeth together hard and when the blade made contact with my skin, I let out one giant scream begging him to stop, but he just whispered in my ear and kept carving. It didn't take long before I slipped away into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up lying on my stomach in a different room. I realized that I was in a clean bed and sunlight was peeking through the window. I tried to roll over onto my back, but the searing pain stopped me where I was. The tears burned from my eyes as my back burned with pain.

"You shouldn't try to move anything for a while," said a very kind voice.

She walked over to the other side of the bed so I could look her in the face.

"My name is Dr. Sara Tancredi," she said with a sweet smile.

I looked into the doctor's eyes and remembered when I first made eye contact with her. It was just a passing, but they were the same eyes that I was getting now; it was a look of sympathy, but also a look of sadness.

"Laney I need you to tell me who did this to you?" said Sara reaching out to brush my arm.

I glanced down at my pillow then back to the doctor. I desperately wanted to tell Sara what happened so all of those terrible men could get what they deserved, but I knew that I couldn't. I just slowly shook my head at Sara.

"I think that you should see what they did to you so that you can change your mind," said Sara starting to pull me off the bed.

They were the most excruciating minutes of my life attempting to get off of the bed, and Dr. Tancredi had to go get two other guards to help me. I noticed that my shirt had been cut just above my belly button, but bandages covered the exposing skin. Sara began unwrapping the bandages, and I winced with each tug. When enough skin was exposed she turned me around so my back was facing the mirror and I turned my face around. The tears came streaming from my face as I saw the damage that Abruzzi did. On my lower back were cut marks from Abruzzi's shank that spelled out_ 'Bella'_ across my back. The area around the cuts was completely swollen. Sara put her arm on my shoulder and asked me again to tell her who did this to me. The tears continued to stream down my face as I shook my head. She nodded almost like she understood why I couldn't explain, but then backed away back towards her desk.

I looked back at the mirror and noticed the bandage wrapped around my nose. I cocked my head to the side and slowly grazed the bandage with my fingers.

"You also have a broken nose," said Sara without looking up at me.

I was able to get myself back to my bed and I flopped on my stomach. I just wanted to stay in the hospital for the rest of my life.

, No sooner had I laid down on the bed, I could hear Bellick's voice coming down the hall. He was chatting to someone whose voice sounded distinctly familiar.

"Dr. Tancredi, I have here a Michael Scofield in need of some treatment for his diabetes," he said giving Michael a hard shove.

Michael made his way over to Sara but a look of complete shock came over him when he noticed me lying on the bed.

I watched, however, that Michael wasn't staring at my face, but at the marks on my back. I couldn't believe it but it was actually making me blush so I turned my face away from him. As it turned out, though, I wasn't the only one that Michael was making blush. Sara looked like she was burning alive and she hadn't spoken two words to Michael. I wasn't much for the whole romance thing, but I could definitely tell when there was an attraction.

Bellick cleared his throat, "I am also here to escort Miss Collins back to Gen Pop for PI later today."

Sara looked as though she could smack Bellick across his face.

"Laney is in absolutely no position to be going back to Gen Pop or working for PI because I believe that her cell mate was the one who did this to her."

I was in complete shock. How did Sara suspect that Abruzzi could be behind my attack? Was I that predictable that I could give away who hurt me without speaking? Michael didn't look shocked, but almost angry at Sara's outburst. It was a very scary anger.

I suddenly came to my senses, "you are wrong Dr. Tancredi, Abruzzi didn't do this to me, I swear, I could hear the voices of my attackers and they weren't Italian."

That seemed to satisfy Bellick enough and he started to help me back onto my feet. Sara looked at me disappointed and I couldn't even look her in the eyes as I walked by her because I so desperately wanted her help. Michael stood in Bellick's way for a moment and he stared me down. The intense anger in his eyes I had witnessed earlier had completely vanished and what remained was this warmth that he sincerely cared about my well-being. I reached out to touch him arm, but Bellick rushed me away and we scurried out of the doctor's office.

The whole walk back to Gen Pop Bellick tried to convince to go to Warden Pope and snitch on Abruzzi. I simply replied that snitching would defeat the whole purpose of being undercover and that they were testing me to see if I would snitch. He didn't seem satisfied and proudly announced my return to Gen Pop and I was shoved through the door. It seemed like every inmate had their eyes on me, and I realized that the word had spread of my new "tattoo". I could see Abruzzi's men above me snickering and winking, but I didn't let it phase me. I noticed Westmoreland holding his cat and eying me from across the room with a look of care. I looked up and smiled at him, but when I started to approach him Bellick shouted out for PI. I watched the other inmates exit the holding room and I slowly followed behind Abruzzi.

Abruzzi didn't speak to me much as we made our way to our work.

Bellick said today we were painting the inside of a building, but I wasn't supposed to do much in my condition. I could see the slight smirk on Abruzzi's face when Bellick announced that last part. I felt like walking over there and smacking that smirk right off of his face, but I knew that I would get him back later when he would be punished more for his crimes. I also noticed that Michael had returned from the doctor's office and his brother soon followed. Bellick left us to paint and we all got right down to it. I was put in charge of some light painting on the walls.

"How are you feeling today Bella?" I heard from behind me.

I turned out and of course Abruzzi was staring me down.

Without responding I just took my paint brush and flicked paint right in Abruzzi's face. Angered, he smacked the brush away and pushed me against the wall, making sure my lower back took most of the force. He shook his head at me like he was disappointed in me, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction that I was scared, even though I was terrified. He leaned in so close that his hair was lightly brushing my cheek.

"Don't forget your place in here sweetheart."

"John knock it off, let her go," shouted Michael shoving Abruzzi out of the way.

I fell down to the floor and watched as he started to fight back with Lincoln helping Michael. Sucre helped pick me up off of the floor and I saw some of Abruzzi's men were starting to make their over for a fight, but Abruzzi called them off.

He told Michael to be careful and to watch his back then went on his separate way. As he passed me he stared me down and told me that we would finish this later. I watched him leave and then said my thanks to Michael and Sucre.

"Lincoln, this is Laney Collins and she is our new resident at Fox River," Michael joked putting his hand on my shoulder.

Lincoln walked over and shook my hand.

"This is no place for you Laney," Lincoln said walking back over to Michael. I secretly chuckled to myself and thought if you only knew the real reason that I was here.

Michael wanted to make sure my back was really ok, and I showed him the damage. Michael, Lincoln, and Sucre all stared in disgust at what happened to me the other day. I tried to assure them that I was fine, but I don't think any of them bought it. We worked for a few more hours before the guards told us to wrap it up. We were all getting ready to leave, but Michael led Lincoln into the locker room. It made me a little suspicious so I crept into the locker room and followed them. I had to creep past a few rows of lockers before I spotted Lincoln sitting on the bench with Michael standing behind him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it looked like their conversation was intense. I thought about trying to get a little closer, but decided not to because if I got caught I would lose the only friends I have made since I was put in here. Michael stepped a little farther from Lincoln and started unbuttoning his shirt. I started to back away because I didn't want to see Lincoln and Michael unchanging, but something stopped me. Lincoln turned around shocked and when Michael took off his shirt my mouth dropped.

He was covered in tattoos.


	4. Chapter 4

I sprinted out of the locker room and headed back towards Gen Pop. I didn't want Michael or Lincoln to catch me spying on them, especially after they had both been so nice to me. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I didn't bother me that Michael Scofield was covered in tattoos, but it bothered me that there were so many secrets surrounding the tattoos. Even though I knew my job in here was to get some dirt on Abruzzi, I figured that if I could uncover stuff on other inmates I might as well do that too.

I made my way back to Gen Pop, and walked towards my cell. The other inmates still snickered and pointed at the bandages and swelling on my face. I just glared at everyone that I passed until I reached my cell. Before I entered, I noticed that Michael had just reentered his cell too, and I stared at him for a moment. I wasn't able to watch for long, though, because Abruzzi reached through the bars and grabbed my ponytail pulling me up against the door.

"I told you we would finish this later Bella," Abruzzi whispered in my ear.

He drug me along the door until he was able to yank me into the cell. He held me up against his body my face just inches from his as he was still holding my ponytail upward.

"I was thinking my dear that you always wear your hair up and I have yet to see it down," he said.

I whimpered as Abruzzi ripped the band from my hair, yanking a few pieces out in the process, allowing my dark locks to fall around my face.

"Now that is beautiful, but I need to make sure that you won't go putting your hair up anymore."

I stared at Abruzzi with confusion, but he took his palm and thrust it upward, making contact with my nose. I squealed with pain moving backwards and collapsing onto my bunk. Abruzzi sprang into action and climbed on top of me. One of my hands was covering my nose, as I was crying and pleading with him. He pulled on my tank top, lifting me up off the bunk, and then supporting me with one of his hands. With his other hand he took his knife and started ripping out my hair. All I could do was lie their helpless waiting for my attack to be over.

After what seemed like hours Abruzzi released his hold on me and collapsed back onto the bed. He slid off my bunk taking the chunks of my hair along with him. My nose had finally stopped throbbing, and my fingers slowly slid through my hair. After the damage he had done, my hair just barely touched my shoulders and I knew I would not try to wear it up again. I pushed myself onto my side and the tears started streaming down my face.

_What the hell did I get myself into_, I thought to myself before drifting off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

When I woke up the next morning, I noticed that Abruzzi had already left the cell probably going off to breakfast. I could hardly drag myself out of bed. My head hurt from the hair being ripped out my head, my nose hurt from getting punched in the face, and my back hurt from the carving it received the other day. I slowly pushed myself off of my bunk and over to our bathroom. I looked up at the mirror and my face looked horrific. My hair was all knotted and short, and my face was extremely swollen. As much as I wanted to stay in my cell and hide, I had to go out and face the inmates. I had a job to do and by God I was going to do it.

I think I had the entire prison's attention when I first entered the cafeteria. Although I couldn't be sure if they were staring at my new hair or my swollen face, the inmates definitely had their eyes on me. I held my head up high and walked through the room. After passing a few whistles I came to the side of Abruzzi's table. I turned so I could face him, then I smirked, flipped my hair around and kept on walking. I knew I would probably get in trouble for that later, but at the time I just wanted to show Abruzzi that he couldn't bully me anymore.

I found Michael and Sucre sitting together so I figured I would join them. When they saw me they gave me smiles, but I could see the concern in their eyes.

"Nice haircut mami, me gusta, but I didn't realize that Abruzzi did hair professionally," joked Sucre.

I punched Sucre in the arm even though I was laughing. I even noticed that we got a smile out of Michael. I noticed that Michael was just wearing a t-shirt and some of his tattoos were exposed.

"So Michael what is with all of the tattoos?" I asked.

Michael's expression changed and he became very reserved. He told me that it was best if I didn't know about his past so I dropped the subject. His answer definitely made me think that he was up to something, and his tattoos were a part of it.

We ate the rest of our breakfast in mostly silence until the guards approached us.

"Alright cons back to your cells now," shouted Geary taking some food from another inmate's tray and popping it in his mouth.

We immediately emptied all of our trays and were escorted back to our cells. Abruzzi was waiting for me by the time I reached my cell.

"I like what you've done with your hair Bella," he teased running a couple of fingers through my hair.

I just couldn't take it anymore. I had all of this hate built up for everything this man had done to me since I had arrived. I jerked away from his hand and spat right in his face. He gave a look of complete rage before grabbing me by my shoulders and slamming me against the wall.

"Listen to me you little brat," Abruzzi screamed shaking me, "we have rules in here and it would be in your best interest to learn you place. Capirmi?"

There was no way I was about to let Abruzzi boss me around anymore so I shook my head and tried to struggle against his grip.

He raised his hand in the air and I closed my eyes waiting for him to strike me, but we heard a loud voice boom from below us.

"LOCKDOWN."

As the words left his mouth all of the cell doors began to close and Abruzzi released his grip on me. I fell to floor and kept my eyes on him. He began muttering to himself in Italian and reached his mattress and pulled out his knife trying to find a better hiding place. Watching him do that made me think about my journal. I realized I hadn't written in it since my very first attack and now I would have to worry that the guards or Abruzzi might find it. I leaned against the door of the cell watching the guards search through every inmate's cell. If they found something, then the inmate got sent to the Shu. Officer Bellick was the one leading the searches and he finally reached Michael and Sucre's. I figured that there wouldn't be any contraband with them, but I watched Bellick grab Sucre and lead him away from Gen Pop.

It felt like we were waiting around for hours before the guards reached our cell. Bellick stepped in front of the pack and opened the door. He stared at me for a brief moment then moved into the cell.

"Nice hair Laney," he said coldly.

I rolled my eyes at him and saw Abruzzi smirk out of the corner of my eye. Bellick and few other guards searched the cell up and down. I thought we would get away clean but Bellick found the knife that Abruzzi was trying to hide. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Bellick whispered something in Abruzzi's ear and went to exit the cell.

"Hey wait a minute he had a knife," I said before I could stop myself.

Abruzzi looked like he could kill me and Bellick slowly turned to face me.

"I didn't see any knife, but thanks for your concern con. By the way, Dr. Tancredi has requested to see you so you can come with me." Bellick said grabbing my elbow.

When we were separated from the other guards Bellick stopped me and told me to quit being a snitch before I got myself killed. I rolled my eyes and questioned why he wouldn't want to stop Abruzzi if he had a knife. Right before we reached the doctor's office Bellick also told me that he found something suspicious in Michael Scofield's cell. I that he had my full attention. He said he found a name and to keep my eyes and ears open for an Allen Schweitzer. He then pushed me into Sara's office.

"Oh my, Laney your hair what happened," gasped Sara reaching out to me.

I just shrugged her off and made my way over to the chair. If I heard one more comment about my hair I was going to scream.

"Well I called you into my office to check on how your wounds are healing. Why does your nose look worse than it did before?"

"It was nothing doctor, I just bumped it when I was doing PI work the other day," I lied.

Dr. Tancredi looked like she didn't believe me for a minute.

"Fine, but I would still like to take a look at your back so if you could lift up your shirt?" Sara asked standing up from her desk.

I turned around and grabbed the bottom of my tank top, pulling it up slowly. Sara came over and gently placed her hand over my wound. I winced slightly, but she was extremely gentle.

"It looks like some of the swelling has gone down, but I am afraid that your markings will scar."

I knew that she was referring to the word "Bella" marked on my back, and I felt slightly embarrassed that I could be stuck with that name forever. I didn't have a chance to respond because Officer Geary came in a moment later.

"Sorry to interrupt doctor, but Scofield here says he needs some insulin to control his diabetes."

I dropped my shirt and turned around to face Michael. He stared at me for a moment then turned his gaze over to Sara. She must have noticed because it made her blush slightly. It was kind of amusing seeing her face turn pink.

"It's fine Officer Geary just put him in the other room over there." Said Sara pointing to the next room over.

Geary nodded and pulled on Michael's arm to take him into the other room. Sara didn't take her eyes off him for a minute.

"Well, Laney if you refuse to tell me what happened to you, then I guess we are done here," said Sara.

She stood and held the door open for me, but I told her that I had to use the bathroom first. She nodded and exited her office to join Michael. I felt like dirt because I lied to her, but I knew that if Michael were going to tell anyone his juicy secrets; it would be the doc.

I walked out of her office and shut the door behind me so they would hear, and knelt down in front of the other door. I pressed my ear to the door and listened. For the first ten minutes or so, it was just meaningless small talk and flirting, boring. After that, though, she told him that his body wasn't reacting well to the insulin shots he had been receiving. I thought that was a little odd that a diabetic would react poorly to insulin. Sara continued to tell him that the next time he came for a check-up that she would test him to make sure he was still diabetic. Michael didn't seem to agree to that, but he didn't argue and their meeting was wrapping up. Sara called for the guard and I sprinted back into the bathroom. I flushed the toilet for good measure and then met Sara and Michael outside of the office.

Officer Geary returned to escort Michael and I back to our cells. I noticed when we got there that it was yard time for the inmates. During our whole walk, I couldn't stop thinking about Michael Scofield. Why he was in Fox River and with his brother? What did the tattoos all over his body mean? Why would he claim to be diabetic if he really wasn't? I didn't know the answers to any of these questions, but I vowed at that moment that before I left Fox River, I would know everything there is to know about Michael Scofield.


	6. Chapter 6

I separated from Michael once we were outside, but I didn't feel like going over to Abruzzi. I guessed that he was still pretty upset from this morning. Instead, I found Westmoreland sitting at a table by himself with his cat. I quickly moved over next to him.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked pulling out a chair.

He nodded and made some room for me. He asked me how my time in Fox River was going. I replied that Abruzzi wasn't exactly Prince Charming, but other than that I was managing ok. He wanted to know what I did to get myself into a male prison, but I didn't exactly have my story straight. While we were talking I noticed that most of the inmates were starting to separate by race.

"Westmoreland, why do all the inmates separate by race?" I asked.

"Well, Miss Laney, the different races don't exactly get along, I suspect that there will be a race riot before long. But for now they just keep to themselves."

"That doesn't seem to be stopping Michael over there," I responded watching Michael make his way over to a group of black guys.

I got Westmoreland's attention because he turned to watch Michael too. He studied the gang for a moment then smiled and turned back to be.

"I think Michael will be ok. That is Benjamin Miles Franklin, but everyone around here calls him C-note. He handles most of the drug transfers in Fox River."

I stared at Westmoreland then turned my attention back to Michael. I watched him talking to C-note and they seemed to be striking a deal. The question that tugged at me was why would Michael be needing some drugs if he just received treatments for his diabetes?

They seemed to wrap up their conversation because Michael walked away and headed over to the bleachers. He started digging at the seats and I thought it was some nervous twitch. I mean he was going to town on that bleacher. I thought I could watch him all day, but another group of people starting heading their way. Once I saw the leader of group I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Everything about him kept my attention and I asked Westmoreland about him. He took one look and quickly looked back to me.

"Now there is one person in this place that I would definitely avoid," he warned. "That is the worst piece of scum in this joint."

I thought Westmoreland was being kind of harsh because just standing there, that inmate didn't look that mean. He was just talking to Michael. I couldn't stop staring at him, that is, until the inmate turned around and caught me looking at him.

I quickly looked away, embarrassed, but he didn't. He bit his lip and signaled for me to come over. I was so intrigued that I got up from the table and headed that way, despite Westmoreland's warning. The rest of the inmates must have noticed too because everyone had their eyes on me. I slowly approached the inmate that so fully had my attention.

"Well my, my, what is a little beauty like yourself doing in a place like this?" he asked in a southern drawl.

I had reached the bleachers, but I didn't answer. Instead, I just kept glancing back between Michael and the inmate.

"Little beauty why don't you tell me your name," he said stepping closer and brushing a finger along my cheek.

I flinched and stuttered, "L-.. La… Laney."

"Well Laney I would personally like to welcome you to Fox River. I noticed you were watching me talk to pretty over here. Is there something you needed?"

"I.. um.. I .. I just saw that you talking to my friend Michael, but I didn't know who you were, that's all."

My eyes quickly looked down, realizing at what a horrible job I was doing at lying.

"My aren't you sweet Laneykins. Well my name is Theodore Bagwell. I was talking to your friend over here because those bleachers he is sitting on is my bleachers. Now it doesn't bother me that he is sitting there, as long as he joins in with my group."

After he said that he bit his lip again and stuck his hand in his pocket. After that, he pulled out his pocket and offered for me to take it. I quickly shook my head and he turned his attention to Michael.

"We need to band together against the "darkness" here in Fox River."

Michael looked disgusted by Bagwell and jumped off the bleachers, thus rejecting his offer. Bagwell didn't seem to like that too much.

"This isn't over pretty."

He turned his attention once again back to me, smiled, then turned around and he left. His crew followed shortly after him. I realized after he left that I kept holding my breath so I let out one big sigh. For whatever reason, I knew that that man was dangerous, in fact he could probably kill me, but I was so fascinated by him that I could hardly think of anything else.

Not long after that moment, the guards called for yard time to be over. My mind was so cluttered with stuff that I hurriedly jumped into line. I quietly followed the other inmates until I reached my cell. I noticed Abruzzi was lying on his bunk, but I didn't even care. I just ignored him and settled in on my bunk.

"So I noticed out on the yard that you met T-bag?" Abruzzi asked.

"Who?" I asked sitting up in my bunk.

"T-bag. Teddy Bagwell. You met him in the yard today Bella," Abruzzi said annoyed.

What kind of a name is T-bag? I agreed to Abruzzi's question, but I really didn't see why that mattered. He didn't seem to mind if I met other inmates, but it really seemed to concern him that I was talking to…T-bag.

"You need to be careful around him Laney," warned Abruzzi, "T-bag didn't get himself throw in here because he doesn't like black people."

I paused for a moment, realizing that he called me Laney, and not Bella.

"Oh yeah, then what exactly did he do to get in here," I smarted back.

There was some shuffling from the top bunk, probably Abruzzi sitting up to tell the story.

"Let's just say that Teddy over there likes to play with the kiddies. And when he is done he kills them."

My mouth turned dry and I forced down a swallow.

"How many kids are we talking," I whispered.

"Eight, maybe nine, I don't really know," he spat.

Eight or nine! How could I misjudge someone so easily? Plus, I was with the FBI for the crying out loud. You would think that I would be able to spot what a horrible person he really was.

"So he has a problem controlling himself around little girls, he should do fine in here," I said after a moment of silence.

"I said kiddies, Bella, which means he was quite fond of the boys too. That little pocket trick he pulled today wasn't because he thought you were cute. Anyone who grabs that pocket becomes T-bag's bitch while they're here, and since you are the first girl in this joint, I think you figure out the rest of the story," Abruzzi joked.

I felt like I was going to be sick. I clearly was the worst agent in the history of agents. I thought T-bag was a nice guy when in reality he was one of the most worthless piece of scum that I had ever met. I almost touched that filthy pocket. God, no wonder he was so drawn to Michael; he wanted to do "things" with him. I ran over to our toilet and dry heaved a couple of times.

Later that night, I couldn't make myself go to sleep. There was just too much on my mind. Things having to do with my assignment, Michael Scofield, and as much as I hated to admit it, T-bag. No matter how repulsive I thought he was, I couldn't get my mind off of him. It wasn't that I was attracted to him or anything (God, how sick!), but there was just something about him that kept me drawn to him. I guessed that as long as I stayed in Fox River, I would have more dealings with the infamous T-bag.


	7. Chapter 7

After an almost sleepless night of tossing and turning, Abruzzi loudly jumped off the bed and woke me up. I moaned and pulled myself out of bed. I decided to count myself lucky because it had been a day or two since Abruzzi tried to hurt me. In fact, I almost thought about thanking him because I was really starting to like my new haircut.

Every other morning, a guard came to get me so I could shower and maintain my personal health. I would get 15 minutes to shower, do my hair, brush my teeth, change clothes, etc. Afterwards, when I am all spick and span, the guards bring me to breakfast. I get my normal food and start to head over to Michael's table. I noticed he was sitting alone, so that had to mean that Sucre wasn't out of the Shu yet. I was just about to reach his table when shouting behind me erupted.

A couple of different gangs began fighting with each other over this one table. Normally, I would have found this stupid, but it was other incident that was just adding to the race riot. I figured that the yelling would just stop when the food started flying. I bent down onto my hands and knees to prevent myself from getting hit with food. After all, I had just taken a shower. I tried crawling over to find Michael, but he had already vanished. I kept moving on my knees when a hand came around my waist and pulled me up.

"What do you think you're doing, Bella?" Asked Abruzzi through my hair carrying me backwards.

At first I was struggling against his hold, demanding that he let me go, but I realized that he wasn't trying to hurt me.

"If any of the other inmates had seen you crawling around on the floor you would be dead meat," he said placing me down behind him.

"I'm Sorry?" I said, even though I was confused on why I was in so much danger.

He looked at me like I was absolutely hopeless.

"You crawling around on the floor makes you look vulnerable, and these idiots will eat that up. They are all about power and control, so you have to be strong. That means no more crawling around on your hands and knees."

I nodded at him, understanding what he meant, and he loosened his grip on my shirt. I was kind of confused because for a second it seemed like Abruzzi was starting to care for me. I mean why else would he bother saving me and warning me if he didn't want me to get hurt. He seemed to think the same thing I was because she gave my shoulder a rough shove and walked away.

The more I stayed here the more I realized that my assignment was getting more and more difficult.

After the little "incident" at breakfast, the guards gave us a stern warning then took us out for yard time. Out in the yard, Abruzzi noticed me, but quickly turned away and started playing cards with his crew. I was a little annoyed that just because he helped me out, it didn't mean that he had to ignore me. What did he think that my helping me I was going to fall head over heels in love with him? Ha!

Rule number one in FBI undercover work. Never, and I mean never, fall in love with the suspects.

I felt really awkward at this point because I didn't know where to go and I was standing by myself like a moron. I glanced around the yard and saw T-bag and his crew standing next to the fence. He noticed me standing by myself and signaled with his finger for me to join him. I shivered and immediately shook my head. He smirked and bit his lip again. That habit was becoming really annoying. He signaled for me to come over again, but this time he held out his pocket. My eyes bugged and I walked away. I couldn't see him, but I knew he was laughing at me.

"Hey snowflake," called a voice to my left.

I turned to look and noticed it was the inmate that Michael was talking to yesterday. I hurried over to where he was leaning against the fence.

"Hi," I said softly.

"I noticed that the country bumpkin over there was giving you a hard time, so I wanted to see how you were doing?"

It was the first time since I entered this place that I genuinely laughed out loud. My laugh must have been contagious because he returned the smile.

"I'm Laney," I said sweetly. "And you're C-note right?"

"Well, no, actually my name is Benjamin, but you can call me C-note," he laughed.

At first, I thought that C-note was way too sweet to end up in a place like, but I followed Abruzzi's warning that everyone was in here for a reason.

"So, um…I noticed that you were talking to my..um.. friend Michael the other day," I said dropping my eyes to the floor.

"Oh yeah, the fish. Yep I met him the other day because he needed a favor from me."

"Well, what exactly did he want?"

I wasn't exactly doing an excellent job of being stealthy, but I really wanted to know what Michael was up to.

"See snowflake, I can't discuss business with anyone but clients, but feel free to ask him yourself."

At that I felt really embarrassed and that made C-note laugh. We talked for a little while longer and he told me that if I needed help with Abruzzi or T-bag to just let him know. I went to thank him, but someone caught the corner of my eye.

It was Sucre!

I ran over to greet him and noticed that he was standing next to Lincoln.

"Wow, nice hair Laney," said Lincoln.

I gave him a look and he backed off, but I turned my attention to Sucre. I gave him a smile, but he looked defeated.

"Sucre, what's wrong?" I asked.

I looked to Lincoln for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Aye, mami, everything is just terrible. While I was in the Shu I was supposed to call my girlfriend, Maricruz. But the damn guard wouldn't let me use the phone. She thought I abandoned her and now she is getting all buddy buddy with Hector.

Poor Sucre looked like he was about ready to break down right there. I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure everything will work out, Sucre," I said. "If Maricruz really loves you then I'm sure she will come around."

Sucre looked at me and smiled so I hoped that I cheered him up.

"Hey where is Michael?" I asked.

I looked to both Sucre and Lincoln, but none of them seemed to know where he went to. I looked around the yard and I found C-note again. He wasn't looking at me, but by the look on his face I was grateful for that. I followed his gaze over to where Michael was sitting. He was sitting on those damn bleachers again just scratching away. I thought I would go over there and give him a piece of my mind, but someone beat me to the punch. T-bag slowly approached Michael once again.

Michael hopped down off of the bleachers and he was holding something in his hand. T-bag started arguing with him and once again held out his pocket. Michael sighed and gave T-bag whatever he was holding in his hand. It was a bolt. Wait, wait, that was what this all about. A bolt! And by the looks of it, I wasn't the only one who was annoyed by this. If I hadn't just met C-note, I would be seriously afraid of him.

The guards called for yard time to be over and I began to head back to Gen Pop. I was stopped shortly by Bellick.

"Hey Laney, Pope said he wanted to see you briefly."

I nodded and let Bellick lead me away from the other inmates.


	8. Chapter 8

Bellick stood me right before Warden Pope's office, and I knocked on his door. He signaled for me to come in and I obeyed.

"Good evening, Agent Collins, how are you?" He asked gesturing for me to sit down.

I took my seat in front of his desk and nodded that everything was fine.

"I just wanted to check in with you because I heard that you were having some problems with Abruzzi.

"Initially, sir, I was, yes, but I think we are starting to come to an understanding." "Or at least I hope so," I laughed.

He asked about how my assignment was going and if I was making any progress, but I told him I really couldn't talk about it. The truth was I lied. I didn't want to tell the Warden I was failing at my job miserably because I was afraid that it would get back to the FBI. Or worse, my dad.

He said if there was nothing else that I needed to tell him then I could be on my way. I thought about telling him about Michael, but decided against it. I needed to be sure before I snitched. On my way out the door I noticed something sitting in the corner.

"Sir, what the heck is that?" I asked pointing.

He looked over and laughed briefly.

"That is an anniversary present for my wife."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"It is supposed to be the Taj Mahal," he explained rather annoyed.

I nodded and gave him a weak smile before exiting his office. I really wanted to see what his wife's reaction would be to that gift, and left laughing to myself. The secretary told me that Bellick trusted me to meet him back at Gen Pop. I walked down the hallways alone doing some serious thinking. I realized that I had become distracted here. I came here not to understand all of the inmates, but to catch Abruzzi doing something bad. I promised myself that before the end of the week I would have some dirt on Abruzzi.

I rounded the corner into another hallway, not that far from Gen Pop. It was there that I noticed Michael go downstairs. Despite by better judgment, I followed him.

He was downstairs where they take the laundry, so I assumed that was what he was doing. I realized, though, that he wasn't alone. I was about to call out his name, but I saw the stranger come out of the shadows. It was C-note and his gang. I watched as C-note pulled out a bottle of pills and held them out to Michael. When Michael went to take them, though, C-note jerked them away. That was when they began arguing, and I tensed up. I kept watching until a few of the other people grabbed Michael and held him against the wall. C-note opened the bottle of pills and dumped them on the floor. Michael watched every last pill hit the floor. One of the guys holding Michael then punched him the gut. The others followed soon after and Michael was getting punch after punch. I panicked and didn't know what to do, so I did the first thing that came to my mind.

I ran.

I felt like such a coward for running, but what else could I do? And here I thought that C-note was a good guy. I'm sure that it had something to do with Michael making a deal with T-bag, but they didn't have to beat the crap out of him. And what were those pills that got dumped on the floor? This place was just surrounded by so many questions.

My thoughts were interrupted by being called out of my cell for count. I followed in step behind Abruzzi and noticed C-note standing across for me. He briefly glanced in my direction, but quickly turned his gaze to the floor. I turned my head, not wanting to see him, and I noticed Michael next to Sucre. He had a black eye and a fat lip, but he could have gotten a lot worse. I smiled at him and I got a small smile back. I turned back to Abruzzi, but he was looking below us with a pained expression.

I followed his gaze noticed an inmate stepping out of line.

The guard looked at him fiercely and told him to get back in line. He smirked and looked towards T-bag. I looked over at T-bag and saw him give a little nod. Before I registered what was happening, inmates started shouting and the fighting broke out. It was clear that during this fight, it was the whites versus the blacks. I saw the guards quickly exit before I was yanked by my upper arm. I turned my head and saw Abruzzi dragging me back to my cell. He took me in and sat me down on my bunk.

"Stay here, Bella. Do you understand me?" he said before exiting the cell.

Screw that. I was a Federal Agent for God's sake. I could take care of myself against a few pissed off inmates. So, I made sure that Abruzzi was gone before I exited my cell. It was full blown pandemonium. There were bodies lying on the floor and people fighting everywhere. I leaned over the rail and saw Michael being thrown over. I started making my way towards the stairs, but was yanked back by my hair. It was just some random idiot thinking he could take on the poor defenseless girl. I elbowed him in the gut and he fell to his knees. I regained my balance and kneed the idiot in his chest, stopping him from bothering me for the moment.

Admiring the work that I had done, I didn't see the other inmate sneak up behind me. He rammed himself into me forcing me against the railing. I tried shoving him off of me, but it resulted in a few punches to the gut. I panicked, so I forgot my training and did anything that any other woman would do. I took my foot and rammed it between his legs. The inmate fell onto his back and I think I saw tears in his eyes. I turned and watched the action below me. I spotted Michael and one of T-bag's "friends" charging after him. At the same time, the guards threw in small bombs that emitted smoke. The smoke started clouding the rooms and it was getting harder to see.

"SCOFIELD," I heard a voice shout, though I couldn't see who it was.

I didn't need to see who it was to recognize the voice. That southern drawl belonged to T-bag. The smoke was making my eyes start to water, and it was getting harder to breathe. I started coughing and dropped down to my knees. I was getting lightheaded and became afraid I would fall through the railing. I was about to lose consciousness when I felt strong arms lift me into the air. The smoke was so thick that I couldn't see who it was, but they carried me back to my bunk. The bars to our cells closed shortly after. I wiped my eyes and noticed Abruzzi watching over me looking worried. I then realized that it must have been him that carried me back here. I was about to thank him, but he shrugged his shoulders and climbed up onto his bunk without a word.

Warden Pope was furious when he heard of the little incident that happened in Gen Pop. He scolded all of us for a few minutes, then told us that we would be under lockdown for 48 hours. Wait, that meant I would spend two days (alone) with John Abruzzi. I was a little apprehensive at first, but then I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to dig up dirt on the mob boss. Almost like he could read my thoughts, he jumped off of his bunk and walked over to the sink. He turned to look at me, and I gave him a small smile. I thought he almost returned it. He walked over and started to climb back on his bunk, but he stopped and looked at me again. I started to feel a little awkward when he started laughing.

"I saw you out there you know, Bella," he said through his laughs, "you kicked some ass out there."

The words out of his mouth shocked me so much that my jaw dropped. I didn't mean for anyone to notice me fighting. It was just sort of an instinct.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked taking a seat towards the end of my bunk.

"When I was in school, I learned some self -defense." I lied.

I immediately thought that my cover would surely be blown. I was such a bad liar, and Abruzzi was smart enough to probably figure it out. However, when he didn't say anything, I figured he must have believed my lie.

"How did you end up here, Laney?" He asked so genuinely.

It took me a minute to gather my thoughts so I could make my story as believable as possible. I took a deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Well, I just finished school not too long ago. I met a guy while I was there and I thought I was in love with him. We ended up moving in together shortly after I graduated. My new job required me to work late at night, so I wasn't home a lot. One night I got off work early and was going to surprise him. When I walked in the door, I saw him cradling another woman in his arms. I was angry, hurt, jealous, betrayed, you name it. I started yelling and throwing his things across the room. He tried to stop me, but I hit him over and over again. I did that for like 30 minutes before I was able to calm down. It was then when I realized that something was wrong. I looked at the damage around me and discovered that I had beaten my boyfriend and his lover to death."

I paused for a bit of dramatic effect. Abruzzi's didn't react much to my story, just a nod here or there. He has probably witnessed more gruesome deaths than my false tale.

"At my trial, I was just supposed to be sentenced to a women's prison like normal, but because I showed no remorse, the judge thought I deserved a steeper punishment. So here I am."

He nodded at the end of my story like he understood. I was surprised he didn't question me more about what happened. I must say it was quite a violent story. We sat there watching each other in silence for a moment.

"What about you?" I asked wanting to shift the conversation.

He looked at me for a moment, amused by my question.

"Well, clearly you know that I am a mob boss. I won't get into the details of anything because trust me you don't want to know. My business was going good for a while and then we found out that one of our men was a rat. He testified against me and several other people, and that is how I ended up in here."

His story wasn't as detailed as I would have liked, but it was a start. I knew the story of how one of his people, Fibonacci, testified against them, but the way Abruzzi told the story made it seem like he was so hurt at the betrayal. I realized he was staring at me, waiting for a response.

"Oh, that's um… terrible.. I guess."

He smiled at that.

"The terrible part is not getting to see my family."

His eyes looked incredibly sad.

"I didn't know you had a family?" That wasn't a lie

"I have my wife and two kids. A son and a daughter. The only time I get to see them now is during visiting hours."

I had never realized until that point that Abruzzi had people he cared about outside of Fox River.

Everyone thought he was some horrible monster, and he was, but he still had a family who cared for him

and missed him very much. It wasn't until that point that I realized something. I came into this assignment

thinking that things were just black and white. If someone broke the law, then they were convicted and

punished by being sent to jail. I realized that there was more to it than just black and white. Abruzzi ran an

organization, trying to support his family, he was betrayed by someone he considered very close to him,

and now he can't even see his family. I didn't know what dirt I expected to dig up on Abruzzi, but I knew

that whatever I came up with would only keep him from his family longer.

Abruzzi must have sense how uncomfortable I was getting because he dropped the subject and got up off

of my bunk. We didn't talk much for the rest of the lockdown. And when the bars opened, he quickly exited

the cell. I stayed for a little while longer just staring at my hidden notebook, knowing the kind of damage

it could do on a man's life.


	9. Chapter 9

It felt so weird to be walking around in the yard after the lockdown. For now, the peace seemed to have spread between the races. Word had also gotten out about my fight with some of the inmates, and I earned myself a little credit. Abruzzi had been avoiding me know for a couple of hours, so I free to roam around the yard. I saw Michael leaning against the fence. He looked a little banged up, but I wasn't sure if that was from the riot, or from C-note's beating. Something caught Michael's attention and I looked over to see C-note himself walking over. I tensed up a little knowing what happened the last time those two boys met. However, this meeting turned out different. C-note was smiling and laughing at Michael, and pulled something out of his pocket. I saw it was the same pills that he dumped all over the ground. Michael took the pills and nodded in thanks to C-note. I started to walk the other way, but C-note saw me and called out my name. I stopped and waited for him to catch up to me.

"Heard you got some fight in you after all, snowflake," he joked punching my shoulder.

I returned the smile, but I was curious to what C-note gave Michael. My curiosity didn't go unnoticed.

"In case you were wondering, your friend over there just wanted some PUGNAc."

I nodded thank you to C-note, but I still didn't know what the drug did. However, I knew one person in this place that probably did. The doctor would surely know. I told myself that the next time I went in to see Dr. Tancredi, I would ask her what PUGNAc were for. I spent so long talking to C-note that I lost track of Michael. I really wanted to talk to him to see how he was doing after the riot. I paced around the yard, searching for him, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Suddenly, I heard my name being called out. In the hopes that it was Michael, I turned around, and noticed that Abruzzi was yelling my name and calling me over. It looked urgent so I rushed over to where he was standing.

"Come inside here, Bella, I want to show you something," he said pointing to the shed.

I was hesitant at first because the last time I was alone in a room with Abruzzi he had carved my back like a pumpkin. I decided to follow him in anyway. When I entered the door I saw all of his crew in the room as well. I was about to ask what we were doing in here, when I saw Bellick at the door. He was escorting Michael with him. Abruzzi nodded at Bellick and he left us all alone.

"Hello fish," Abruzzi said.

Two of Abruzzi's men then grab Michael's arms and force him onto the table. I started to protest, but another inmate grabbed me around the waist and was holding me back. They had Michael pinned onto the table and had one of his shoes and socks off.

"Alright, fish, here is the deal. I want you to tell me where Fibonacci is right now," said Abruzzi leaning against the table.

Fibonacci? The guy that testified against Abruzzi. Why would Michael know where he is?

"Not gonna happen, John," said Michael Confidently.

Wait, so Michael knew where Fibonacci was? How? He was supposed to be in the witness protection program and no one is supposed to be able to identify him. One of the guys grabbed a hold of Michael's foot and I watched as Abruzzi took out a pair of gardening shears. My mouth dropped when he put two of Michael's toes in between the shears.

"I am going to give you until the count of three to tell me," said Abruzzi.

"One."

I started struggling against the man that was holding me. I yelled at Abruzzi telling him that he was crazy and to stop doing this.

"Two."

"If I give you that information, I am a dead man. You know it, and I know said," replied Michael.

"Abruzzi stop! Please!" I begged.

Abruzzi sighed. "I am going to give you one last chance fish."

Michael shook his head and I tried one last time to break free from my hold. For both of us, it was no use.

"Three."

"John! No!" I pleaded one last time.

Abruzzi nodded and quickly squeezed down on the shears. Michael winced in pain, and the guy holding me was smart enough to cover my mouth with his hand before I started screaming at the top of my lungs.


	10. Chapter 10

I waited a few minutes until Abruzzi and his men were definitely gone. I sprinted over to where Michael was lying on the ground next to his missing toes. I rested my hands on his shoulders and he jumped. There were tears in his eyes, and he looked so scared. I took off my blue jacket leaving my white tank top exposed. I told him to wrap my jacket around his foot. He did that very slowly while I went to find his toes. I found a cloth to wrap them in and Michael was trying to pull himself to his feet.

I helped Michael by leaning under his shoulder so I could support. It was harder than I thought it would, and I almost buckled under his weight. We slowly started to approach the yard. I was afraid that the other inmates would try to take advantage of our current state. I stopped moving and held Michael where he was.

"HELP! PLEASE HELP US!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

It caught Michael off guard and he nearly fell over from the noise. It took all my strength to prevent him from falling on the ground. We started moving again while I continued to scream at the top of my lungs. We rounded the corner and came face to face with a group of guards. I screamed for them to come over and help. They didn't hesitate.

Bellick was one of the guards in the group. He stood off to the side while the other guards took Michael from me and proceeded to take him to the hospital wing. I started to follow, but Bellick grabbed my arm.

"What the hell happened, Collins," he said releasing his grip.

"You're the one that brought him there, why don't you ask Abruzzi," I accused back at him.

It looked like Bellick almost blushed in shame.

"They told me that they just wanted to talk."

"Well it looks like things escalated just a bit," I mocked.

I left Bellick and ran as fast as I could to the hospital wing. I passed Abruzzi and his gang on my way there, and I just glared at them all. I couldn't believe that earlier today I actually felt sorry for Abruzzi. He was a horrible monster, and deserved to be where he was at. I just hoped that Michael would stay strong and never reveal Fibonacci's location. By the time I reached the hospital wing, Michael was leaning back into a chair and Dr. Tancredi was tending to his wound. His face was buried in his hands and a few tears slid down his face.

I barged into the doctor's office and she looked surprised to see me. I hurried over to Michael's side and put my hand on his shoulder. He glanced up from his hands and smiled when he saw me.

"Laney, I don't know what else to say but thanks," he whispered.

I just shook my head and took his hand in mine. At that moment, I started to feel uncomfortable, so I looked around the room. My eyes finally landed on Sara and while she was working away, she didn't seem to like the idea of me holding Michael's hand. I looked back to Michael, but he had drifted off to sleep. I took my free hand and wiped away some of the sweat on his face. Sara and I both noticed that the guards were waiting outside of the office, and we both left Michael and went outside.

"What is she doing in here," said one of the guards referring to me.

Bellick explained that since I was the one that found and rescued Michael that I had the right to stay with him at the hospital.

"I need to ask you what happened to him Officer Bellick?" asked Sara.

Bellick shifted uncomfortably.

"Well ma'am, Scofield works in PI and Abruzzi asked him to go to the shed and bring him something. It seems that while Scofield was in the shed he stepped on the gardening shears."

"And they went through his boot, cutting off two toes?"

"That's right ma'am."

I raised my eyebrows at Bellick and I am sure that he saw me. It annoyed me just a little bit that he was covering for Abruzzi. It annoyed me even more that he was the one that brought Michael to the shed in the first place. Sara seemed even more annoyed than I did. She told the guards, coldly, that Michael would have to stay in that wing for the night and the next day. Bellick nodded his head and offered to escort me back to Gen Pop.

The whole back to my cell I didn't say a word to Bellick. In fact, I didn't even look at him. I wanted to make him feel nervous that he screwed up in front of a federal agent. I hoped that it worked. I stormed into my cell and waited for Bellick to leave. I noticed that Abruzzi wasn't in here so I took that to my advantage. I raced over to my bunk and searched for my hidden journal and pulled it out. I flipped over to the first page and uncapped my pen. I dated the page and on the second or third line I wrote one word in capital letters.

FIBONACCI.


	11. Chapter 11

I just finished hiding my journal again when Abruzzi came back into the cell. He didn't even acknowledge my existence; he just hopped onto his bunk. I rolled my eyes and sighed. There was no way in hell that we weren't going to talk about this.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself," I shouted jumping off my bunk.

He just stared at me and then hopped off his bunk.

"Whatever do you mean, Bella," Abruzzi smirked.

"I think you know exactly what I mean!"

Abruzzi laughed.

"The fish had some information that I needed, so I tried to get it from him."

My jaw dropped and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you think there are better ways to get information than cutting off a man's toes!"

"And how would you suggest I do that sweetheart?"

"I don't know John, try being nice I guess," I said but I really didn't mean it.

If you could have seen Abruzzi's face at that moment, it looked like the light bulb just clicked on. He looked like he was going to same something, but then decided against it. He just stormed past me and walked out of the cell. I stood there for a few minutes trying to figure everything out. He could change himself so easily. One minute we were sitting in our cells and he was acting human talking about his family. The next minute he was chopping Michael's toes off! This whole situation was becoming very complicated.

I tried to lie back down on my bunk, but I heard one of the guards call my name. I looked over the railing to see the guard calling my name, telling me that I had a visitor.

I raised my eyebrows and followed the guard out of Gen Pop. He led me to the big room where inmates could see their families and friends for a short period of time. I looked around the room and saw Abruzzi greeting another man. I kept walking as I watched them shake hands and then kiss each other on the cheek. Ew. I turned my attention and noticed my dad sitting at a table across the room. Oh my God, my dad was sitting over there! It took all my strength not to burst into tears and sprint over to his arms.

"Hi Dad," I said finally approaching him.

"Laney." He said pulling me into a hug.

I knew that the hug was more for show than a meaningful hug, but it still felt nice. It made me feel safe and secure. We took our seats across from each other at the table.

"What happened to your hair?"

"Long story, sir," I said annoyed.

He gave me a questionable look, but shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a pad of paper. Now that is the dad that I remember. Agent Collins first, daddy Collins second.

"Alright, so tell me Laney how is everything going?" he asked clicking his pen.

"We have had a few incidents in the beginning, but everything seems to be working out now."

He looked at me like he wanted me to elaborate a little more. I leaned in forward and had to whisper so no one would hear me.

"Abruzzi decided that he wanted to me through a little test, and he did some damage," I continued.

"Show me," he commanded.

I looked shocked, but nodded my head at my father. I first pointed to my hair signaling that he gave me my little haircut. I hesitated a little about showing him my back, but eventually I got up out of my chair and turned around. I slowly lifted up my shirt revealing my lower back. I didn't notice that my dad had gotten up until he brushed his fingers across the marks. As he did that, I noticed that Abruzzi was looking at me. He watched my dad rub my back and just grinned from ear to ear.

I knew he was doing it just to tease me, but I was so annoyed that I almost walked over and smacked the grin right off of his face. My father noticed my annoyance and turned me around to face him.

"Don't let him bother you Laney," he spoke.

We both sat back down back to where we were, and I noticed my dad writing in his pad. I guessed it was about the incident with my back.

"What does Bella mean?"

I laughed at that.

"Well, it is my nickname they gave me. I think it means beautiful in Italian."

My dad raised his eyebrows at me. He didn't think it was too funny that inmates were calling his daughter beautiful.

"Have you found anything out for your assignment?"

"Well, other than inmate brutality, not really. However, he tortured another inmate for information."

"Really," questioned my dad looking pleased.

I nodded my head.

"Yes. They made me watch. He cut off a man's toes just because he wouldn't reveal the location of Fibonacci."

At that, my dad stopped writing and looked up at me with serious eyes.

"No one, especially an inmate could know where Fibonacci is," he scolded.

"I know that dad, but there is something different about this inmate."

"Who is it?"

"His name is Michael Scofield. He seems like a pretty harmless guy, but there is just something about him."

My dad raised his eyebrows at me and gave me a look like I was some teenage girl.

"Dad! I don't have a crush on the guy, he just is so mysterious."

He seemed satisfied and closed his pad. The guards called that we had five minutes left of visitation time. We got up out of our seats and embraced each other again. This time the hug felt different. While I'm sure he was hugging me for a good show, there was warmth in the hug and he felt reluctant to let me go.

"Stay safe, Laney," he said.

He kissed me on top of my forehead and then left the room. I stood and watched him for a moment, before a guard escorted me out of the room. Back in Gen Pop I noticed that Abruzzi was standing next to the door.

"Did you have a nice visit?" I asked him sweetly.

"Yeah, Philly is great guy to see," he said sarcastically.

When I looked at him with a confused expression, he continued on.

"I think Philly has decided that he wants to step in and "run" things while I am away. He told me that he needs the whereabouts of Fibonacci in a few words."

"Please don't try torturing Michael again, he is not going to tell you," I pleaded.

"Oh he is going to tell me," Abruzzi warned, "now or later he will tell me."

I rolled my eyes and sat down on my bunk. He never left his spot. He was just thinking.

"Did you have a nice chat with daddy?" he mocked.

I glared at him even though he couldn't see me. Honestly just because he had a bad visit, didn't mean he had to take it out on me.

"I did actually, he really likes my new makeover and my new tattoo."

At that, he smiled, and in turn it made me laugh. He turned and looked at me for a moment then looked away. We sat in silence for a few more moments before Abruzzi's crew showed up and whisked him away. I lied down on my bunk and ran my fingers through my hair. I realized though that I hadn't checked in on Michael in a while, and I wanted to make sure he was alright. I sat up and left the cell, trying to forget what just happened in it.


	12. Chapter 12

I found Michael outside, leaning against the fence. He was talking to his brother, and it looked like Lincoln wanted to kill someone. I could only guess who they were talking about.

"Hey gimpy," I teased approaching them.

Michael turned to me and smiled, but Lincoln wasn't having any jokes.

"The next time I see Abruzzi, I am going to kill him!"

"Take it easy Linc, I am fine. All thanks to Laney over here."

Michael put his arm around me, and I instantly felt myself getting hotter and turning red. I leaned into him a little, resting my head on his shoulder. I almost didn't want the moment to end, but he slipped his arm away, which caused me to take a deep breath.

"How are you doing Michael?" I asked.

"Better. Definitely sore, but better."

"I'm really sorry for everything. I had no idea he was going to do that."

Michael shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't have to apologize for anything."

I smiled, but there was something that I felt I needed to ask.

"So do you really have the location on Fibonacci?"

Michael and Lincoln both raised their eyebrows at me. I guessed that I overstepped my boundaries. I was almost ready to apologize when Michael cut me off.

"Even if I did know where Fibonacci was, I would never let Abruzzi get his hands on him."

I had a strange feeling that he was lying to me, but I didn't call him out on it. I leaned against the fence while Michael and Lincoln whispered to each other. I looked around the yard, and I found Abruzzi playing cards, Westmoreland petting his cat, Sucre talking to the guards, C-note weightlifting, and T-bag was strutting in front of his gang. I laughed to myself as I thought about the strange group of people I had met in Fox River.

I turned my attention back to Michael and Lincoln. Michael said something quietly and pulled something out of his pocket. I stared at it for a moment and my mouth dropped when I realized what it was.

"Is that a cell phone?" I blurted out without thinking.

He shoved the phone back in his pocket and he and Lincoln both stared at me wide eyed.

"Why do you have a cell phone? Wait I don't want to know why you have a cell phone. Just pretend I wasn't here."

I ran away from Michael and Lincoln and stopped behind some bleachers. What the hell was that? Ok, A: why did Michael have a cell phone? How did he even get it in here? And B: why did I run away like I was 12 and getting in trouble with my dad. I looked back over to where Michael was talking, but they had already left each other. I sighed and started to pound my head against the bleacher. I was failing miserably at being an undercover agent.

"Well, well, it looks like heaven left us a little angel boys," said a southern slimy voice.

I turned sharply and there was T-bag and his crew standing on the other side of the bleachers.

"What's gotcha down sweat pea?" he asked leaning against the bleachers.

I shook my head to tell him that nothing was wrong, but he didn't buy it. I started to back away when I bumped into someone.

"Don't be scared little Laneykins, I am not going to hurt you," he said approaching me.

He said that and yet I still felt scared. I wanted to turn and run away, but I couldn't. Even though I was scared out of mind, I still felt like he wouldn't hurt me. He approached and reached his hand out and stroked my hair. I flinched, but he took his other hand and touched my nose. My nose was still a little red and sore from where Abruzzi had broken it.

"I guess the rumors are true then. Abruzzi really did carve you up like Thanksgiving dinner. He must have broken your nose too."

I heard a few snickers from the other guys, but I couldn't take my eyes off of T-bag.

"My darling even with your injuries, you are just so pretty."

That was the final straw. He officially was creeping me out so I tried to make my exit. He grabbed my wrist before I could get anywhere. I struggled, but he only gripped harder.

"Now, Laneykins that is not polite. I just gave you a compliment, so how are you going to thank me."

I tried to get free, but he just kept pulling me closer and closer.

"Let go of me you pig!"

He let go of my wrists and smacked me hard across the face, causing me to fall on the ground. My hand automatically shot up to my stinging cheek as I looked up at him. He had that stupid smug grin on his face, but his eyes screamed nothing but rage.

"You need to be taught some manners."

I watched him rear his hand back to hit me again, but something stopped him. Suddenly, I was lifted up off of the ground and onto my feet.

"Do we have a problem here," said Abruzzi glaring at T-bag.

I instinctively moved so I was hidden behind John, and he put an arm by me defensively.

"No, no problem here Mr. Mafia. Seeing how you were the one that broke her nose, I think it is funny now you are so keen on defending her."

I had to admit T-bag did have a valid point there.

"Well, the way I see it, is I am the only one here that is allowed to inflict pain on the girl."

If that was his way of making me feel safe, he was doing a terrible job.

Abruzzi continued, "maybe you should spend less time worrying about Laney, and more time concerned with the death of your little bitch boy from the riot."

"John!"

I punched him in the back, but he just briefly turned and smirked. T-bag gave Abruzzi a look that could kill, and then his face turned into a pained expression. He nodded his head towards his crew and they slowly left. I felt sort of bad for T-bag, but only a little. Abruzzi turned his attention back to me.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded my head, even though I was still a little shaken. I couldn't help but think that this wasn't the first time that he and T-bag had butted heads on something. My cheek was still throbbing and there was probably a nice red mark to go with it. Abruzzi brushed my cheek with his hand almost as if he was reading my mind.

"Come on," he instructed, "we have PI today."

I quickly followed behind him, not wanting to cross paths with T-bag for the rest of the day.


	13. Chapter 13

We were still painting in PI work, but we got moved to a different room. I saw Michael and Lincoln working, but they didn't like they wanted to talk to me, so I worked alone. I still wanted to question Michael about why he had the cell phone, but I knew that I had to do it at the right time. My thoughts drifted back to what happened in the yard with T-bag. I knew that I was supposed to be terrified of this guy, and stay clear, but I was just drawn to him. When he touched my hair, I couldn't move. It wasn't that I was happy or turned on because he was touching me. GROSS! It was just a connection I couldn't explain.

And then there was Abruzzi. I was getting so confused over this thing where he breaks my nose and slices up my back, but then he comes to my rescue when I need it. I had come to the conclusion that this whole situation was messing with my mind, and affecting my ability to get the job done. I would have to fix that immediately.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Michael call out Sucre's name. I watched Sucre make his way over to Michael. They were chatting for a little while, when I saw Michael pull out his cell phone and show it to Sucre. I saw Sucre's eyes widen when he saw the phone. Actually, I was a little surprised that Michael wasn't being more discreet about it, considering that Abruzzi was in the room. I just decided to shrug off that thought.

Michael and Sucre continued to talk for a while before I watched Michael hide the cell phone in a hole in one of the support beams. By this point, I was so lost and confused that I turned my attention back to painting the wall. I almost felt that I would rather spend less time focusing on Abruzzi, and spend more time digging up dirt on Michael Scofield.

After PI work, I decided that I needed to have a little chat with Officer Bellick. He met me at the fence, still looking worried over the incident with Michael.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked.

"Depends on what it is little lady."

I stopped and glared at him, and he suddenly looked very nervous.

"I need to somehow make a phone call. Like a private phone call."

He nodded in understanding.

"I'll talk to Pope and we will see," he said.

I turned and walked away, hoping that Pope would allow me this favor. It was time to go back to our cells and I followed in behind Abruzzi. We hadn't talked much since what happened in the yard, which was fine by me. I needed to try and keep our time together as casual as possible.

"Laney Collins," I heard Bellick shout from below.

I still had to get used to the whistles and shouts every time I would walk around, but it was starting not to faze me. I met Bellick and he told me that the warden wanted to see me. I immediately perked up because hopefully it would mean that I would get my phone call.

I stood outside of the warden's office as Bellick talked to him. I smiled at the secretary, but she wasn't about to smile at an inmate. I was going to glare at her some more, but Bellick signaled for me to come in. I winked at the secretary and walked into the office.

"Hello Warden Pope," I said a little cheery.

He smiled and signaled for me to take a sit. I happily obliged.

"Officer Bellick tells me that you wish to make a private phone call. May I ask you for a few more details?"

I was hoping that we could have avoided the whole details part of the story, but it looked like that wasn't going to be the case.

"Well, sir, I would like to have someone give me some more information and some of the inmates."

"Why would you be looking in on other inmates?"

Here was the tricky part.

"Well, some of them act a little strange and I think that somehow it ties in with Abruzzi."

Pope sighed.

"If you think that it will help with your investigation then I don't see why we can't honor your request."

I smiled at Pope and gave him my thanks for letting me do this. He nodded his head and he, followed by Bellick left the office. I waited a few minutes for them to clear out and I grabbed the phone sitting on the warden's desk. I paced back and forth for a few minutes, trying to decide exactly who I was going to call and what I was going to say. I took a deep breath and dialed the phone.

"Federal Bureau of Investigations, intelligence operations unit…"

"Melanie, it's Laney, I need some help," I said.

Melanie and I went to school together, and we became the best of friends due to the fact that our names sounded so much alike. Both of our dads worked in the FBI, but while I wanted to become an agent, she mainly stuck to secretarial duties.

"Laney? How are you even calling me right now, I thought you were undercover?"

I rolled my eyes.

"I am you idiot. I am making a special phone call because I need your help," I said annoyed.

She laughed.

"Laney you have to tell me, how many cute guys are there? Please tell me you get to see them without a shirt."

"Melanie! They are inmates; most of them are probably murderers. I don't have time for this, are you going to help me out or not?"

"Alright, alright, gee whiz. Learn to have a little fun once in a while. What do you need?"

I ignored the first part of her comment because if she was sent where I was, the last thing she would be thinking of is fun.

"I need you to dig up as much information as you can on an inmate here in Fox River."

I heard her shuffle around through the phone, probably trying to find a piece of paper and a pen.

"Ok. Why don't you tell me what you already know about him, and I will work from there.

I took a deep breath before I answered.

"His name is Michael Scofield. He robbed a bank to get sent to Fox River. He is a diabetic. He is covered in tattoos. His brother is Lincoln Burrows. That is about it."

"Wait, his brother is Lincoln Burrows? _The_ Lincoln Burrows? And they are both in Fox River at the same time? That sounds very odd, Laney."

I agreed, and then I told her that I it was my time to go, and I wished her good luck on finding some useful information.

"Be careful Laney," said Melanie.

I told her that I would try my best, but I could make no promises. She laughed softly and hung up the phone. I knocked on the office door to let Bellick know that I was done with my phone call so he could escort me back to my cell. I thanked him again for giving me that favor. He still looked a little nervous around me. I think he was afraid that I was going to snitch on him for letting Michael get hurt. The jury is still out on that. In the back of my mind, I was extremely hoping that Melanie would be able to find something, and I could begin to understand Michael Scofield.


	14. Chapter 14

I sat in my cell for about an hour before it was dinner time. I was really starting to get sick of the prison food. Every day it was the same thing, garbage. I slowly moved through the line getting my food, and attempted to find a seat. Usually, I try to sit with either Michael and Sucre, or Westmoreland, but today Abruzzi pulled me over and told me to sit at their table. I obliged.

I think he wanted me to sit there so he could keep an eye on me, not because he actually enjoyed my company. That annoyed me just a little bit because I was a big girl and I could take care of myself. Well, expect for when Abruzzi had attacked me twice, and when T-bag had approached me. Ok, so far I hadn't done an excellent job of taking care of myself, but I could still do it. I didn't need a guard dog to follow me around the whole time. I looked around the cafeteria and I spotted Michael talking to Sucre again. Sucre looked rather nervous, and I wondered if it had anything to do with that cell phone that Michael hid. Michael didn't look worried, though, and I figured since it was his cell phone that he would be the one to get worried.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw T-bag walking over to his table. He, however, wasn't interested in looking at me. He was staring directly at Michael. The hate in his eyes sent shivers right through me. I think he blamed Michael for the death of his friend during the riot. I couldn't see what happened, but I saw blood on Michael's shirt after the fight. I ate in silence for the reminder of lunch time before we left to put our food away. Michael and Sucre were still sitting at their table, and T-bag was still sitting at his. Suddenly, T-bag shifted forward and pulled a really funky looking knife out of his pocket. It was a knife, but it had slits that looked like waves in it. He started making his way over to Michael's table. I quickly tugged on Abruzzi's shirt and pointed towards T-bag. He sprang into action taking me along with him.

T-bag had reached about the halfway point when Abruzzi cut him off.

"What do you think you're doing," said Abruzzi grabbing T-bag's wrist.

I sort of hid behind Abruzzi because T-bag still intimidated me from earlier today.

"Pretty killed one of my guys and I intend to get even, Mr. Mafia. I don't have to get your permission."

"Actually you do. However, I do see your point so I will be willing to make a deal with you."

I think I almost choked when he said that.

"John, you can't be serious. You can't let him kill Michael!"

"Why Miss Laneykins, I didn't even see you back there," joked T-bag.

I stepped forward but Abruzzi still acted a little defensive.

"T, do you really think that killing Michael will make you feel better?"

T-bag grinned and the sound of his nickname.

"I don't know that yet, my dear, but I do know that it will make me happy to gut pretty from the inside out."

I swallowed back what could have been vomit, thinking about Michael getting gutted. Abruzzi was sensing that the moment was getting tense, so he said something quietly to T-bag and he ushered me away. I didn't like being kept out of the dark, and I intended to confront John about it. He entered our cell and tried to climb onto his bunk, but I reached for his arm first.

"I need to talk to you, like now!" I demanded.

He sighed, rolled his eyes and then stepped in front of me. I had to raise my head to meet his eyes and I suddenly realized just how big he really was. At first, it intimidated me, but I held my ground.

"Why do you feel the need to harm everyone who steps foot in Fox River?"

He looked at me like I was the crazy one, and I didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

"You carved Bella onto my back with a knife?"

He nodded his head.

"I didn't trust you."

"You chopped off all of my hair?"

"You insulted me.

"Cutting off Michael's toes?"

"I needed information."

"Anything having to do with T-bag?"

"I was just trying to protect you."

The last answer caught me off guard. If he was trying to protect me so badly, then why would he hurt me at all in the first place? And that is exactly what I asked him.

"It's probably hard for you to believe, but I do like you Laney. You remind me of my daughter and I don't want anybody to hurt you. However, if you disrespect me I feel like I have to punish you."

My mouth literally dropped open. Did John Abruzzi just say that he like me? I couldn't even dignify a response because I was so shocked. He thought of me like his own daughter. We had only known each other for a short period of time, and he thought that highly of me. Of course, he did just admit that he thought it was ok to punish me, but he considered me like a daughter?

"Are you done with the interrogation, Bella?" he finally asked.

I slowly nodded my head, still unable to say anything. He climbed back onto his bunk and turned so he was facing the wall. I pushed my hair out of my face and let out a giant exhale. I sat down on my bunk and shut my eyes. This day was one of the most confusing days of my life. The more time I spent with this man, the more confused I got. How could I spy and snitch on a guy that thought of me like a daughter? He openly admitted to me that he was trying to defend me, and I was going to turn around and not defend him against other charges. I couldn't help but feel guilty that I was going to turn on him. If I would have known that my emotions were going to start affecting my job, I wouldn't have said yes to do it. I was starting to regret ever agreeing to this assignment.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning I woke up to the sound of the guards calling out for PI. Abruzzi was already gone. Wait, PI? How long was I asleep? I got up, briefly got dressed and headed out to the yard. Luckily, we were still painting, so I knew where I was going. Most of the crew was already in there working and I found Abruzzi in the corner.

"Hey why didn't you wake me up this morning?" I asked.

He didn't even turn around to look at me.

"You looked tired, so I let you sleep a little longer."

"But I missed count."

"Bella don't concern yourself with this. I just talked to the guards and they let you sleep in too."

I nodded and decided just to drop the subject. I picked up the nearest paint brush and started painting the wall. I'm sure I did a really terrible job painting because I wasn't even focusing on what I was doing. My time here was starting to overwhelm me. There were so many things swirling around in my mind, it was giving me a headache. I didn't even notice when the guards came in.

I probably should have noticed because Bellick and two other guards were hauling tail. That's when I noticed that Sucre was walking in behind them. My eyes followed over to where Michael and Lincoln were standing. They exchange a look with each other and then looked back to Sucre. It was a little nerve wrecking because Sucre wasn't looking at anyone. He was just staring at the ground. Then it hit me. The cell phone was in this room! Did Sucre snitch on Michael and tell Bellick where the cell phone was. I looked at the spot where Bellick stopped walking. He took one look back at Sucre. My heart rate started to increase. I was positive that Sucre had snitched. Bellick looked back at all of us before saying,

"Anderson, your transfer came through and they want you in administration."

The inmate followed the guards out and Sucre was left standing in the middle of the floor. I took a deep breath. Even though I was happy that Sucre didn't rat out Michael, Sucre didn't look too pleased. He stormed over to where Michael was standing. He was just a few inches from Michael's face, saying things that I presumed weren't very nice. Michael shook his head almost in agreement, and made his way over to one of the support beams. He reached into the hole and pulled out the cell phone. He handed it to Sucre and he held it in his hands for a moment. The next thing I knew, the phone was on the ground broken in half. But it wasn't a cell phone; it was a bar of soap that just looked like a cell phone.

At the moment I realized that the phone was a bar of soap, I lost it. I burst into laughter, no not just laughter. Loud, hysterical laughter. I had to lean against another support beam so I didn't fall over. I had got the whole attention in the room. Michael and Sucre looked confused, but Abruzzi looked at me like I was insane.

"I'm sorry, but the phone was soap the whole time."

I burst into laughter again clutching my hand over my stomach. It was just so funny that we could all make a big deal over a bar of freakin' soap. Michael took Sucre by the arm and lead him into a corner. They continued to talk when Sucre started screaming in Spanish. I had to hold in my laughter again because hearing Sucre yell in Spanish was almost as funny as the cell phone. Sucre stormed off and the guard soon called for PI time to be over. We all filed one at a time back in line, and I was standing right in front of Michael. I thought about asking him what was going on, but I decided against it. I just knew that he was definitely up to something.

We were trying to walk through the cafeteria when two strong hands grabbed Michael and I by our shirts and pushed us into the storage room. The one hand released Michael standing alone, but he kept dragging me over to where I could stand by another inmate.

John Abruzzi.

I asked him what the hell he was doing, but he just grabbed my hand and turned his attention to Michael.

"Easy now fish, it is time we come to an understanding," he said.

I was about to protest, but I noticed something to my left. I looked over and saw T-bag come out of the shadows. He stared gruesomely at Michael with that funky looking knife in his hand. I started to move towards Michael, but Abruzzi only squeezed my hand tighter.

"Stay put," he whispered into my ear.

T-bag stopped a few feet in front of Michael.

"You know when I saw you I thought that I wouldn't hesitate to gut you from bow to stern, but you look so cute when you're scared pretty," T-bag joked.

T-bag took a few steps back and slammed the knife onto a filing cabinet.

"Why don't we get the love part out of the way before we get to the hate hmm," he said biting his lip.

I managed to mutter a quick no, and T-bag then turned his attention to me.

"Not to fret sweet Laneykins. When I'm done here with pretty, you can have a turn if you want."

I felt Abruzzi tighten his squeeze on my hand, and it made me flinch. Abruzzi stepped forward and blocked me from T-bag's path. T-bag started to say something else, but was cut off when Abruzzi took his elbow and smashed it into his face. My eyes opened wide when T-bag fell backwards and started receiving punches and kicks from the other men in Abruzzi's gang.

"He talks too much," said Abruzzi approaching Michael, "let's have a little chat."

He took Michael out of the room and left me alone listening to T-bag's groans as he was getting hit. I completely froze on the spot unable to do anything. Abruzzi had me scared to death that he was going to let T-bag hurt Michael and me. I barely even noticed when the other inmates went to leave, but one tried to take me out of the room. I followed, but stopped just shortly outside the door. I turned around where I could still faintly hear T-bag's cries of pain. I slipped back into the storage room and found him lying on the floor tossing and turning. I knelt down by his side.

"Are you alright?" I said.

He jumped at my voice and reached up to grab my throat.

"Relax, relax, I am not going to hurt you," I tried to reassure him.

"Sorry if I don't believe you sweet pea, but you do share a cell with Mr. Mafia himself." He squeezed a little harder.

That stung a little because I didn't want to be labeled as a bad person just because I shared a cell with John. Well and also the fact that he was slowly constricting my air flow.

"He's hurt me too, remember." I managed to get out.

At that he let go of my throat and I moved to find a towel or a cloth. I found one of the bunk sheets and I brought it back over. I took it and gently wiped away some of the blood on his face.

"I'm gonna cut that dirty mob boss for double crossing me," T-bag spat.

I rolled my eyes.

"That attitude is what got you in this mess in the first place," I reasoned.

He looked at me and smirked then turned his head the other direction. I cleaned him up with the sheet a little more, but he was going to need to see the doctor.

"Let's get you to the medical wing," I suggested.

He looked at me slightly annoyed, but willingly shook his head in agreement. I helped him sit up, and was able to assist him onto his feet. With him leaning on me, we slowly made our way out of the room. Once outside, we got plenty of stares from the inmates and guards about the infamous Teddy Bagwell, and the only girl inmate trying to help him.

I was able to get T-bag to the infirmary alright and was able to make my way back to my cell. I noticed Abruzzi was standing in the cell, and suddenly I was furious. He was just a big bully that tried to control everything that went on in Fox River, and I was tired of it.

"What is wrong with you?" I shouted storming up to him.

He looked angry at me, but I didn't care. I continued to shout at him.

"You can't just go around bossing people in the prison, making decisions for everyone, and beating the living daylights out of someone when you don't get your way!" I pushed against his chest, still fuming.

I would have continued, but he grabbed me by my throat and slammed me against the cell door. I put my hands on top of his, but he only squeezed tighter lifting me slightly off the ground. My toes were just barely touching the ground. I was gasping, trying to catch my breath, and even though I couldn't speak my eyes were pleading with Abruzzi to let me go.

"I don't think you are in a position to be telling me what to do, Bella," he sneered.

I was starting to feel lightheaded, but Abruzzi wouldn't let go.

"I told you that I like liked you Laney, but I still demand respect because I am in charge of everything here in Fox River. If you step out of line, I will be the one that deals with you."

He released his grip on me, and I collapsed to the floor. I started to cough uncontrollably and was gasping for air. It wasn't enough, and before long I lost consciousness leaning against the cell door.


	16. Chapter 16

When I gained consciousness, I was lying on my bed. I had only assumed that at some point Abruzzi had carried me over there. I put a hand across my throat, and I winced at the pain. So twice in one day I had been grabbed by the throat, which will probably lead to a bruise. Great, just great. I sat up to see Abruzzi's feet dangling over the edge of the top bunk. I leaned over and pushed myself off of my bunk and over to the door. He didn't even acknowledge my existence; he was just staring at the ceiling. I leaned against the door and traced my fingers up and down the bars. I felt like crying, but I didn't want anybody to see me. I looked up to see Michael and Sucre standing in their cell. Sucre was holding a box in his hand, and he was talking to Michael. Michael looked worried, but he didn't respond to Sucre. Instead, Sucre left the cell with his box and the door closed leaving Michael standing alone.

We went out for yard time, one more time, and I found Sucre standing alone by a table. I slowly approached.

"Hey Sucre."

He looked at me, then looked down at my neck.

"Aye Aye Aye, what happened?"

I shrugged it off like it was no big deal even though it hurt like hell. It hurt my pride even more that I had tried to stand up to Abruzzi, and it didn't even faze him.

"So is everything ok with you and Michael? You seem pretty upset."

At the mention of his name, Sucre eyes turned to anger. He looked over to where Michael was standing talking to Lincoln.

"That fish is crazy, absolutely crazy. I lose my conjugal to defend him on his stupid cell. Then when I expect to make all the phone calls I want on his cell phone it isn't even real. He is going to mess around and make me lose Maricruz."

He looked like he was going to burst into tears, so I moved over and put my hand on his shoulder. I tried to comfort him as best I could, but his outburst really didn't answer any of my questions.

"I got moved to a different cell," he finally said.

I looked over at him and nodded my head. That would explain the box that Sucre was carrying. We talked for a little bit longer, but Sucre took off and I was sitting alone. Not for long, though, because Westmoreland made his way over.

"It's good to see you still alive, although by the looks of your neck that may change," he joked.

I smiled and gestured for him to sit down. He held Marilyn in his arms, and I reached over to stroke behind her ear.

"Did you hear the fish got a new cell mate?" He asked me.

The way he said he made me think of two old ladies sitting in a parlor just gossiping away. It made me laugh. I assumed by fish he meant Michael.

"I did hear that, but I don't know who it is," I explained.

Westmoreland nodded and pointed his finger across the yard. I followed to where I saw a man standing by himself. He looked like he was in pain, and his eyes were darting all over the yard. He pretty much looked insane.

"Who is that?" I grimaced.

"His name is Charles Patoshik, but everyone in here calls him Haywire. He just got released from the psych ward, and that would be Michael's new cell mate."

I looked back over to where Haywire was standing. He looked like he really never should have left the psych ward in the first place.

"You best be looking away, Laney, if he sees you staring at him, he will kill you," Westmoreland warned.

I quickly turned my head the other way. I couldn't believe I was about to think this, but I think that Haywire frightened me more than Abruzzi and Tbag combined. I made a mental note to try and avoid Haywire as long as I stayed in Fox River.

Somehow, I thought that was going to be difficult.


	17. Chapter 17

For the past few days, I hadn't been sleeping well. I guess I could attribute it to fear of something happening to me, confusion over EVERYTHING, and the bunks just sucked. I would toss and turn all night long, while Abruzzi just lay peacefully above me. I hated him for that. Plus, every time I would finally get into a good position to sleep, the stupid guards would wake us up for count. I decided that this morning, I wanted to sleep in. Abruzzi hopped off of his bunk and walked over to our sink to wash his face. He then looked over to me and noticed that I was still sleeping.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty," he joked.

I lifted my head a little bit, gave a childish whine, and dug my face back into my pillow. I heard the doors open and Abruzzi sigh. He tried to pull the blanket off of me, but I wasn't letting it go without a fight. He was finally able to yank the blanket away from me, but I still wasn't getting out of bed.

"Abruzzi. Collins. Get your asses out here for count," I heard Geary shout.

I tried blocking it all out, but Abruzzi reached his arms under me and lifted me into the air. He pulled me into his chest and carried me out of the cell.

"Sorry boss, our little princess here decided she wanted to sleep in," he said.

Once we reached our lines he dropped me onto the floor. If the railing hadn't been there to catch me, I probably would have fallen and died. I scowled and John, but couldn't suppress another huge yawn. That only earned me a grin. I am pretty sure that the guards were talking to me, but I wasn't fully conscious enough to process it. I stood there lazily through the count, and then we were free to go to breakfast then out to the yard. I tried to sprint back to my bed, but Abruzzi caught me before I got there.

"No more sleeping today Bella."

I have learned over the years that when I am tired, I have a little bit of an attitude.

"Alright, dad," I mocked.

He gripped his hand on my shoulder, and I knew that that meant I was treading on thin ice, so I held my tongue. I turned and left the cell, but I didn't feel like going to breakfast so I headed out to the yard. I walked along the fence, and noticed Lincoln playing basketball on the other side. I learned while I was here that the inmates on death row pretty much had to be separated from the other inmates at all times. Lincoln only got to see his brother during the church service, or during PI. I approached fairly close to him, and he turned around and saw me. He smiled at me, but I could only return with a yawn.

"Trouble sleeping?" He asked sincerely.

I nodded my head because I didn't want to act like I was complaining. He stepped closer to me, and I sat down on the grass with my back to the fence. He followed and sat facing me through the fence. I looked at him in the face, and I saw dark circles under his eyes.

"Did you not sleep well either?" I asked leaning my head up against the fence.

"I had a bad dream," he said quietly.

That was the last thing I expected to him to say, and it caught me off guard. The thought of somebody as scary as Lincoln getting nightmares made me giggle. At least, I giggled until he explained his bad dream.

"I thought I was being executed. They took me to the room and strapped me down. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Now I really felt like a jerk. I had laughed at him to his face because he had experienced the most terrifying thing in his life during a dream. I felt myself blush for seeming so cruel.

"Sorry," was all I managed to say.

"It's ok, Laney."

I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know how. I wanted to tell him that everything was going to be ok, but how could I because it wasn't? He even looked like he desperately wanted somebody to talk to, someone that he could just spill everything he had to. I felt guilty for it, but I just couldn't bring myself to talk to him. So I did the most awkward thing on the planet in that moment. I smiled.

The awkwardness, fortunately, didn't last long because the other inmates were starting to make their way into the yard. Lincoln noticed them too, and quickly backed away from me and focused back to basketball. I don't know if it was just an inmate thing or a guy thing that it wasn't cool or macho to be seen talking to a girl in front of other dudes. I just laughed to myself watching Lincoln walk away. He was strong and tough; of course he didn't want to be seen having a personal chat with me.

I got up to stretch my legs, and I saw Michael walk out to the yard. It cheered me up a little to see him, but not so much to see Haywire follow him. That guy seriously freaked me out. The way he stared at Michael was so disturbing and crazy. I wanted to walk over and talk to Michael, but Abruzzi beat me to it. I was watching them talk for a while, and I wasn't even paying attention that someone was approaching me.

"A girl," said Haywire stepping in front of me.

I jumped when I saw him, and backed up straight into the fence. I told myself that I would avoid this man, while I was here, but it wasn't looking like that was going to work. Since, the fear practically blinded me, I tried to be nice.

"Hi, my name is Laney."

He took a step forward.

"I'm Haywire. No, no, my name is Charles, yeah Charles, but they call me Haywire," he stuttered.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Girls and guys don't go to the same prison, but you, you are here and I am here, in the same prison."

I nodded my head already making up my mind that this guy was insane. It was as though he could read my mind.

"They think I have a schizo disorder with bipolar tendencies," he scoffed.

"Think?"

He shot his head up looking at me, and narrowed his eyes.

"What happened to your hair?"

I felt like rolling my eyes, but I just shrugged my shoulders like I didn't know what he was talking about.

"It looks like someone ripped it out."

He reached out his hand to stroke a piece. I backed up as far as I could go, and turned my head to the side. His fingers just barely touched the split ends.

"Hey Haywire!"

Once again, Abruzzi had come to my rescue. Or at least, I hope he was coming to my rescue. Sometimes I wasn't really sure why he was doing things the way he did. He put his hand on Haywire's shoulder and pushed him away from me. We then exchanged a look. He put his hand on my shoulder and started to lead me back to the cells.

"I'm curious Bella, do you have some sort of death wish?" He whispered.

I looked up at him, eyebrows raised and all. I shook my head to let him know that I didn't understand. He sighed and continued.

"Every time I turn my back on you, you wander off and find some way to get yourself into trouble. And it usually leads to you running into some dangerous inmate."

"Oh, I truly am sorry, I will try to avoid all the dangerous inmates the next time I get sent a maximum security prison," I smarted off.

I thought that maybe I shouldn't have said that and Abruzzi would become angry, but he just laughed and continued walking.

"Well, stop finding the ones that want to kill you then. Haywire is like one of the worst pieces of trash in this place."

"Wait, I thought that Tbag was the worst…"

Abruzzi cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"They are both in the running, ok. Haywire is just insane. He wouldn't hesitate tearing you limb from limb. Just please humor me and try to stay clear of him?"

I nodded my head, but I wasn't so sure if I could keep my word to Abruzzi. There was no doubt in my mind that Haywire was dangerous, and I probably should stay away from him. But, I just couldn't shake this feeling that I had. If Haywire was Michael's new cell mate, then maybe I could use him to help me find out some information. I guess Abruzzi was right.

Maybe I did have a death wish.


	18. Chapter 18

Here is another thing that I absolutely hate about prisons. The shower. Sometimes I feel like I was complaining all the time, but I just couldn't help it. Those showers were just disgusting, I never felt clean when I used them, but that wasn't the only problem. I got to use the shower every other day, by myself, but the inmates got to shower every day. That means that I would have to cross paths with the inmates during shower time. However, my time was exactly after theirs, so I would be standing in my towel in the locker room watching all inmates in their towels come out of the shower. There were guards standing around, so I was pretty well protected. I'm not saying, though that the shower situation doesn't have its perks. Every other day I got to see some attractive inmates walk around in only towels. Of course, the other inmates stared at me too and made lewd remarks, but that didn't affect me much.

Today, I was watching Michael Scofield. I couldn't help but stare at the tattoos that completely covered his body. I don't think that there was a piece of skin that wasn't covered by a tattoo. Apparently, I wasn't the only one that was curious about Michael's tattoos either. Haywire was leaning against the wall glaring at Michael's tattoos. He said something then and Michael turned around and looked at him in shock. I couldn't hear what Haywire said very well, and it took me a minute to figure out what he said.

"A pattern," I finally figured out.

A pattern? What the hell does that even mean? Did he mean that Michael's tattoos were like a pattern? If that were the case, then what does the pattern represent? Michael stormed past Haywire and walked into the locker room. He passed me and we exchanged a look for a brief moment. I tried to contain my thoughts, but I couldn't help myself. Michael was pretty damn attractive walking through the locker room in just a towel. I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and looked back towards Haywire. I think I finally figured out how I was going to have Haywire help me discover things about Michael.

After my grimy shower, I was informed that I had a visitor waiting to speak to me. I quickly made myself presentable and made my way out the door. A guard led to me to line up and wait to be led into the visitation room. I noticed that Sucre was standing behind me so I turned around a gave him a smile. He returned it with a big grin. We started proceeding to the room and I just assumed it was my father again, so it completely took me by surprise who I saw waiting for me.

"Oh my god, Melanie!" I shouted.

I sprinted ahead of the line and embraced my best friend. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tightly. It had been awhile since we really got to see each other. We were like two teenage girls, all giggly in our hug. I finally broke apart from our hug, to ask her what she was doing here.

"I came to see the hot guys that you live with," she joked.

I rolled my eyes at her, but couldn't keep from laughing. We were having such a good time that I didn't even notice that the guards closed the gate on Sucre before he could exit. That meant that even though Sucre had a visitor, they didn't want to be close to him.

"Laney I came because I did what you asked me to do," said Melanie grasping my hand.

I looked up at her with a confused look.

"I found some information on Michael Scofield," she whispered.

My eyes widened and I felt like I could hug her again. She actually came through for me; she was the best friend that I could ask for.

I gestured for her to sit down at a table so that we could talk. She pulled out a notebook and flipped through the pages until she found the one that she was looking for.

"Alright here we are, besides from being extremely gorgeous, Scofield is just short of being a genius. He went to college, and got a degree in engineering."

"Wait, if he is a genius and has a degree in engineering, why would he need to rob a bank?" I questioned.

"Well, you said that his brother is Lincoln Burrows, maybe he wanted to be closer to his brother before the execution date?"

I nodded my head like that could be a possible solution. It didn't seem likely, though. I mean Lincoln still had visitation rights, and there would be the final visitation. I felt like there was something else going on.

"I wasn't able to find anything on his tattoos," Melanie said after a while.

"Don't worry, I have someone else helping me with that, but I think his tattoos are fairly new, so there wouldn't be that much on them anyway."

Melanie looked like she was going to continue saying something, but she was cut off by screaming. I turned around and Sucre was beating on his cage shouting in Spanish. I stood up and was telling Sucre to calm down. It looked like he was shouting at whoever came to visit him, a man dressed in a suit. Sucre looked over to me and was able to calm himself down. The guards took him away and I sat back down at the table.

"What the hell was that?" Asked Melanie giving me a suspicious look.

I shook my head at her, but she wasn't taking that for an answer.

"His name is Fernando Sucre, and he is just an inmate that I have met here. He is a pretty harmless guy."

"Well he didn't look harmless there, Laney," Melanie scoffed.

"Trust me, compared to most of the guys in here, Sucre is harmless," I said.

She looked me up and down, and then I think she was going to make a comment about my hair, but I gave her a look to tell her not to bring it up. She smiled at me, but then looked worried.

"Laney can you just focus on your assignment so you can get out of here? Stop trying to rehabilitate every inmate you come into contact with."

I looked at her, shocked and confused. I cannot believe she just said that to me. She thought I was trying to rehabilitate the inmates here. I was just trying to do my job, and bust Abruzzi on a couple of things. I can't help it who else I meet in here. It doesn't matter because if they were in trouble and needed help, why can't I give it to them. Some of them had been nothing but nice to me when I arrived, so why couldn't I return the favor. I wanted to tell her off, but the guards said it was time so I stood up.

She must have figured out that she upset me because she raced over to me to give me a hug.

"I'm sorry Laney, just be careful ok," she said resting her head on my shoulder.

I pulled her back and smiled at her resting my forehead against her forehead. I left her and followed the guards out of the visitation room. I left feeling a little sad that I had to leave my best friend to go back to these losers, but I did have some new information to work. Now I was headed back with a new plan and I can't believe I was about to do this.

I needed to find Haywire.


	19. Chapter 19

I was back in Gen Pop and some of the inmates were walking about, and some were in their cells. I walked over to the stairs and saw Abruzzi approach Michael's cell. I also noticed that Haywire was in the back of the cell. Michael and John were talking to each other quietly and I didn't want to start prying (yet) so I went outside. I glanced around the yard looking for something to do. I didn't see Westmoreland out and about to talk to. I let out a heavy sigh and just started walking along the fence. That is when I noticed Sucre was talking on the phone, and he didn't look happy. I slowly started to approach him; between visitation and his phone conversation, I gathered that Sucre was having a bad day. He hung up the phone and sulked his head in defeat.

"Sucre are you alright?" I asked resting my hand on his shoulder.

He turned to look at me and gave me a slight smile.

"No, mami, it's Maricruz again," he sighed.

This Maricruz girl was giving him trouble again. It was starting to sound like this bitch was giving Sucre more problems than she was worth. I asked Sucre exactly what was wrong.

"Well today at visitation, that guy I was talking to was Hector. He told me Maricruz didn't want to come around here to see me anymore. In fact, Hector told me that he was with Maricruz was with him now. You can imagine why I lost my temper back there."

I laughed when he said that, and he continued.

"Just now I called her on the phone, and can you guess what she told me? She said she was getting to old to wait around and she couldn't wait around for me. I am going to be out in 16 months and she can't even wait for me."

Sucre buried his face in his hands and I place my hands on his shoulders.

"I know I just said this like a few days ago, but it will work out Sucre. If she loves you she will wait. And if not, well there are other fish in the sea."

He sat up and looked at me like I called his mother fat or something. I backed up a few paces because I didn't want him to snap at me like in visitation.

"Aye, no there are no other "fish in the sea", Maricruz is it and if I loser her, I will lose everything. I have to get out of here now."

I think at that moment something happened with Sucre and he quickly walked away from me. I would have called after him for being rude, but something else caught my attention. I saw Haywire crazily pacing his way through the yard. I thought that this was my chance to talk to him before Michael or Abruzzi came out. I hurried over to where Haywire was standing.

"Hey Haywire," I said sweetly.

He jumped where he was standing, and looked at me. I smiled at him, and I guess he gave what was a sorry excuse for a smile. I tried to move closer to him, but he just backed away. I was losing my patience, and I was trying to keep myself together so I could be as sweet as possible.

"Do you want to help me something?" I asked him almost in a whisper.

"Why don't you ask the mobster monsters to help you?"

He was really starting to irritate me.

"I need your help because you are the only one that realizes the "pattern"," I whispered.

At the mention of the pattern, I had Haywire's full attention. He moved in closer to where I was, and I started feeling a little intimidated. He leaned in only a few inches from my face.

"You know about the pattern?"

I smiled and nodded my head.

"I need your help to figure out what the pattern is," I spoke very slowly.

He seemed to understand what I was asking, and I could see the wheels turning in his head. He almost looked pleased, and as quickly as it came, the happiness disappeared to a look of worry.

"But the pattern is so big, how do I figure it all out," he said.

My god, did I have to think of everything here! I crossed my arms in front of my chest clearly annoyed.

"I don't know, why don't you draw them or something," I stupidly suggested.

He quickly nodded his head and began talking to himself. I thought that that was a good spot to end the conversation, so I told him I would see him later and I walked away. I strolled through the yard feeling very pleased with myself. Hopefully, Haywire would be able to pull through on this and I could start to uncover the truth behind what was going on here.

After another sleepless night of tossing and turning, Abruzzi practically had to drag me out for count again. I slowly was making my way through the day until I got out to the yard. Somehow, don't ask me because it still blows my mind, Haywire managed to find a notebook and began following Michael around. I started thinking that he may be a little obsessed and that asking for his help may have not be the smartest idea. I watched as Michael walked down the sidewalk, Haywire right on his tail, when Abruzzi approached him. I figured I didn't have anything better to do, so I made my over to them. They were being secretive again, so I paced myself slowly. When I finally caught up to them, I caught the last part of their conversation.

"Got a weed problem?" Abruzzi asked.

"Just one," joked Michael.

At the same time they both looked back to Haywire just following them. That is where I interjected.

"That is so mean you guys, imagine what would Haywire think if he heard you," I laughed.

They both looked at me in shock, probably wondering if I heard their conversation. I told them I just showed up and that they were being mean. Michael left us, and Haywire followed him. I laughed to myself at Haywire, following Michael and drawing in his notebook.

"Is Michael going to hurt Haywire," I asked Abruzzi.

I figured if he did, Abruzzi would help him out, and maybe I could write something in my journal. Of course, Abruzzi would probably never admit that.

"I doubt, it the fish would probably chicken out," Abruzzi joked.

Even though, I joked along with him, I breathed a sigh of relief that Michael wouldn't hurt Haywire. For one reason, I still wanted Haywire to figure out the tattoos. Another reason would be I thought that Michael was a good person and I didn't want him to stoop to someone like Abruzzi's level. I followed John and he took me back behind a building. I immediately tensed up because I was afraid that he would jump me or something. To my surprise nothing happened, he just met some other guy behind the building. They talked for a little bit, and Abruzzi walked away with some kind of bottle. I wanted to ask him what it was, but I had a feeling that he wouldn't tell me. He quickly sought out Michael again who was sitting on the bleachers. Abruzzi sat down next to him, and quietly passed the bottle over to Michael. I immediately thought about the "weed" comment and I blurted out,

"Are you going to poison Haywire?"

The both looked at me. I tried to give them my best worried look, but I don't think they bought it. Damn, I really needed to learn how to lie and bluff better.

"You know there would be a quicker way," said Abruzzi revealing a knife in his hands.

I gasped and reached out for the knife. Michael shook his head like he didn't need the knife and walked away. I held the knife in my hand.

"Where do you even get these things?" I asked.

He laughed out loud.

"You buy it Bella."

I rolled my eyes. I felt like I was making a habit of doing that.

"What if you don't have money?"

Again he laughed.

"There are ways to get anything in here, it shouldn't be too hard for you," he said eyeing me up and down.

I shivered and quickly returned his knife. He laughed and gladly took it back. He slipped the knife underneath his sleeve.

"You wouldn't let me do it," I countered.

"I would if it benefited me," he said calmly.

After that we both started laughing. A few people turned to look at us, but I didn't care. It felt good to actually laugh in this place. Our yard time was almost over and I wanted to talk to Haywire again, so I told Abruzzi that I would catch up with him later.

I walked around, Haywire nowhere in sight, and I see Sucre and Michael talking. I was glad that they were finally talking again, and I attributed it to the fact that Sucre has been having a hard couple of days. I saw Sucre smile and embraced Michael in a hug. I jogged a little to catch up with them.

"Aww, now if only all the inmates could hug and make up like you two can. The world would be a happier place," I teased.

They both looked back at me and laughed embracing me in a huge hug lifting me off the ground a little. I laughed and punched them both in the back. They let me go, and the guards called that we had fifteen minutes before we were locked in for the night. I separated from Michael and Sucre because I really needed to find Haywire to see if made any progress. I was going to be rather pissed if he has been drawing all day, and he couldn't come up with anything. I walked to where the cells were and I quickly walked up to Michael's cell. Inside was Haywire sitting on Michael's bunk with several pages sprawled out all over it.

"Holy shit, Haywire," I said walking over to him.

Indeed, Haywire had bunches of paper all with Michael's tattoos on them. I couldn't help but think that it is too bad that Haywire was a psycho and killer because he would make a pretty good artist. I tried to pick up one of the drawings and Haywire smacked my hand away.

"It's a pathway," he muttered.

I looked back up at him. I mean I don't think that Haywire had ever looked crazier than he did right now. He was clearly obsessed with these tattoos. He kept saying over and over again that it was a pathway. I cut him off.

"Where does it lead?"

He looked up at me like I just asked him how to end world hunger. He almost said something but I heard Michael's voice coming in. I said my thanks again to Haywire, but I doubt he heard me. I quickly exited Michael's cell and walked down the hall. I attempted to make my way back to my cell because I had a clear view of Michael's cell from there. I hurried in and the cell doors closed. Abruzzi was lying on his bunk, but I turned my attention back to Michael's cell.

Michael and Haywire were arguing, I was assuming because Michael saw his tattoos on Haywire's pieces of paper. Michael shoved Haywire and turned to face the cell door. He called out for the guard. That kind of confused me. That is, he confused me until what he did next. Michael started beating his head against the door. On purpose! What was he doing? He called out for the guard again. The guards appeared and Michael was holding his now bleeding head. The guards immediately stormed in trying to get Haywire. He went nuts and started thrashing and screaming at the top of his lungs. The guards hauled him away and he was shouting about how it was a pathway to hell. I covered my mouth with my hand. Michael watched as they carried Haywire away, smiling triumphantly. I felt like I was going to be sick. Michael purposefully injured himself so that he could blame Haywire. Who is the crazy one now? Even though, I didn't have all the answers I knew one thing was for sure.

I couldn't trust Michael Scofield anymore.

I lied in my bunk that night unable to go to sleep, again. I was tossing and turning, and so many things were going through my mind. Sucre, of course got moved back into Michael's cell and Haywire got sent back to the psych ward. I told myself that I was just going to force my eyes shut until I lost consciousness, but I heard something. I heard singing, bad singing, and bad singing in Spanish? Why was Sucre singing at night, in Spanish? He seemed to be getting louder and I sat up in my bunk. Other inmates started shouting at Sucre to cut it out. Honestly, I thought it was funny. I started to laugh.

"I am going to kill that Mexican bastard," shouted Abruzzi.

The alarm started going off. I started to laugh harder. I bent over clutching my stomach. I wasn't sure what was louder. Sucre's singing, the inmates yelling, the alarm, or my laughing. In fact, I only stopped laughing when Bellick shouted out that the next inmate to make a sound was spending the night in the Shu. I lied back down and was quietly giggling to myself. Whatever I was thinking or worried about had disappeared for the time being. For the first time in a few days, I slept peacefully.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Wow chapter 20 is up already! I can't help it, all of your reviews and feedback really inspire to write all the time! Feel free to review or send me a private message, I am pretty friendly and probably would respond to you! Thanks so much! 3**

Another day, another dollar. Yeah right, I wish I got to make a dollar a day. We had to work PI for like 10 cents an hours (probably not that low, but it was pretty ridiculous!) Somehow, Abruzzi always stuck me with like the worst job out there. Today, we were doing different kinds of yard work. Michael was digging up something, Lincoln was shoveling, Sucre was doing something with mulch, Abruzzi was pretty much doing nothing, and what I was doing? I was lifting the extremely heavy bags of mulch from the shed out to the yard. What the hell? I had moved to my second bag of mulch when I heard Michael tell the guard that he needed some more of whatever he was doing. I kept walking when I saw that Lincoln broke his shovel and needed to get another. I thought it was weird, but continued on the path.

"Laney, damn it, you dumped the mulch all over the floor," shouted Abruzzi.

I spun on my heels until I was facing Abruzzi. What was he talking about? I didn't spill anything. I thought about telling him to go to hell, but he told Sucre to come clean it up. That is when I realized, they were planning this little meeting. I threw the bag of mulch on the ground and stormed over to Abruzzi. I wanted answers and I wanted them now! I grabbed Abruzzi's arm, and pulled him away.

"What is going on?" I spat.

He looked at me like I was crazy and went to turn away. I wasn't playing this game anymore so I caught ahold of his arm and pulled him again.

"No tell me what you are doing," I said.

He jerked his arm out of my grasp and took me to the side of the shed. The other guys had already entered the shed, probably wondering what was taking Abruzzi so long.

"Stop asking me questions that I am not going to answer," he whispered.

I looked at him with a look that could kill. He knew that I wasn't going to give this up without a fight. He hung his head and started to pull me towards the shed. I cheered up because I thought that I was finally going to get somewhere. My perky attitude didn't last long.

He stopped right outside the door. He held the doorknob, preventing me from going inside. I looked at him questioningly.

"I want you to wait outside the door and make sure no guards come in," he said.

My mouth dropped. Did he seriously just ask me to wait outside while they had a private meeting? He was delusional if he thought I was going to agree to that. I started to protest, but he stopped me.

"Just do it, Bella," he said sternly.

I glared at him for a minute, but silently agreed to watch the door. He walked inside and slammed the door behind him. I stood there for a couple of minutes then crept over to the window. I quietly turned my head so I could look through the window. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but I was slightly disappointed when I just saw them talking. It looked like Abruzzi was doing most of the talking, which really didn't surprise me. He must have said the wrong thing because Lincoln stood up and got about two inches from John's face. I thought that Lincoln was going to pulverize Abruzzi into next week, but Michael seemed to calm them both down. They continued to talk for a while, and I was starting to lose my patience. Almost like they could sense it, they wrapped up their conversation and headed for the door. I panicked because I didn't want them to see me spying on them, so I did the first thing that came into my mind. I dove onto the ground. When the guys exited the shed, they saw me lying on the ground picking at one of the flowers that grew up. I was on my stomach, my feet were crossed in the air, and my other hand was cupped under my chin. I heard Abruzzi snort.

"How like a girl. Lying down on the job, and playing in the flowers," he teased.

Embarrassed, I stood up and brushed myself off, glaring at Abruzzi. He laughed again and walked off. I rolled my eyes and went back to my work. I really wanted to ask Abruzzi to explain everything to me, but I didn't want to upset him. Especially, since I think he was starting to warm up to me. Wait, stop, what was I doing? Why did I care if Abruzzi was starting to warm up to me, I was here to bust him, and that was what I was going to do. I think the lack of good food, a nice shower, and sleep was starting to get me.

Our PI time was done for the day, so we made our way back to the cells. I followed Abruzzi in, but I noticed that Sucre didn't go into his cell. I watched them for a moment. I could see someone sitting in their cell, but I couldn't quite see who it was. Michael went ahead and went in the cell, though, so whoever it was clearly wanted to talk to him. I was going to give up my spying act, but then I heard Michael shout. I turned to Abruzzi, but he only gave me a confused expression. I looked back to the cell and saw Warden Pope leave it.

"What do you think that was about?" I asked Abruzzi.

He looked at me for a moment, trying to think of what to say. That made me think that he was trying to come up with a good lie.

"I don't know Bella, and I really don't care. The fish's concerns are no concerns of mine."

I gave him a look that told him I wasn't buying what he was selling.

"I think that you are lying, but I am too tired to badger you about it tonight," I confessed.

"Good because it wouldn't have worked," he joked.

"Whatever," I said ending the subject.

I rested on my bunk and knew that if I just thought about everything I could connect all of the pieces, but I just couldn't do it. God, why wasn't my brain working in this place. Something was definitely up with Michael, Lincoln, Sucre, and Abruzzi, the question was what?


	21. Chapter 21

My favorite days of Fox River were Sundays. I got to get up, and go to church. My family was never extremely religious or anything, but I always found comfort in going to church. It was nice knowing that there was a higher power who was there to assist me if I needed it. Abruzzi usually went with me, and it usually surprised me. He did where that cross around his neck, but I find it hard to believe that a murderer would want to go to church. Abruzzi explained to me though that it was for his forgiveness of everything he has done in the past. I had to admire that.

Another reason I loved Sundays, was because that I got to see Lincoln at church. The more I got to talk to him the more I realized he was just a big teddy bear. He had a son named Lincoln Jr. (LJ) who came to visit him once I week. I guess I never pictured Lincoln as fatherly, but every time LJ comes up you can see Lincoln's eyes light up. We would talk about his execution every once in a while, but I always felt uncomfortable bringing it up. He would never tell Michael this, but he was actually really afraid to die. He always acted so tough for Michael's sake, but he told me he didn't want to get his hopes up for anything. I didn't really understand what that meant. Why would he need to get his hopes up? I guess it could be that til' this day he claims his innocence. He swears to me that he did not murder Terrance Steadman. I just had a hard time believing him because the evidence stacked against him. But hey, when you were raised to be a federal agent, it was ingrained into your brain that evidence always wins. But as the days grew closer and closer, I started to feel sadder about Lincoln's execution. He was truly a nice guy who made a horrible mistake.

Today I saw Lincoln talking to Michael briefly. The way those two talked to each other was like they were the only two people on the planet. And that was all that mattered. I approached Lincoln when Michael walked away.

"Morning Linc," I said sliding into the seat next to him.

He gave me a big grin.

"Morning Laney."

"What were you and Michael talking about?"

He looked up at the ceiling before answering. Again, he had to think about what he was going to say, so I knew that he was going to lie to me.

"Oh he was just bringing up an old memory," he said.

If that was a lie, then it was a damn good one. Oops, I shouldn't curse in the church. Lincoln was so serious all the time it was hard to tell when he wasn't telling the truth.

"Were you and Michael close when you were younger?"

"When we were younger, yes. Michael went through a rough time after mom died, and our dad wasn't around, so for a while it was just me and him. I was older, though, so the foster system took him away and I was stuck on my own. When tried to reconnect when we were older, but Michael finished college and was so smart. I barely made it through high school and was in all kinds of trouble. Him being here in Fox River makes me think back to when we were kids, and I feel the need to protect him."

It shocked me how much Michael and Lincoln had been through. I could understand so clearly know why they acted the way they did in prison.

"I'm sure Michael is very grateful for that," I said, "I know he cares about you very much."

Lincoln smiled at me, but the service started so we didn't get to talk after that. The guards didn't let him hang around much after it was over either. I said my goodbyes to Lincoln and decided that I would go check out the cafeteria.

I wasn't really that hungry, but I didn't want to sit in the cell by myself, so I found Westmoreland eating his breakfast. I sat down across from him and gave Marilyn a scratch behind the ear. I think I was her favorite person in this place, besides Westmoreland of course. I spotted Abruzzi standing at the front of the line waiting for Michael to get his tray. Nowadays it seemed like those two were attached at the hip. They walked and talked and the closer they got to our table I could make out some of what they were saying. The last thing I was able to pick out of their conversation was something about a key. I had a feeling I would find out about that soon enough. Michael soon joined Westmoreland and I at the table.

"Morning Mr. Scofield," said Westmoreland.

"Charles are there any ways to stall a transfer," Michael asked bluntly.

A transfer? That is what the Warden must have been to see Michael about. So Michael was getting transferred out of Fox River? No wonder he shouted, it was getting closer to Lincoln's execution date.

"Oh there are many ways to stall a transfer," replied Westmoreland. "You just file a motion stating that leaving would violate your constitutional right, and the state is required by law to hear it. They can't move you until they do."

I had the feeling that most of these motions were just bull shit excuses for the inmates, but Westmoreland did have a point. All motions were required by law to be heard out. God bless the legal system I guess. I wasn't really thinking things through before I blurted out.

"Make sure it ends in 'sitis'".

They both looked at me quizzically.

"Well if it ends in 'sitis' that means that it is some sort of illness and it sort of sounds serious," I admitted.

They both started laughing in agreement. I don't know I decided to help Michael file his motion. I guess I felt a little like he should be able to stay here until after his brother's execution. After that, he could go anywhere he liked. I didn't care.


	22. Chapter 22

After breakfast was yard time. I followed Abruzzi around mostly, only because I didn't see Michael or Sucre. They must still be in their cells. They sure liked to spend a lot of their time in their cell. I stopped myself before I thought up any dirty thoughts about why they would be doing that. GROSS! So for most of yard time, I talked to Abruzzi a little, we played some cards, (I wasn't that bad actually), and sat around soaking up the sun. I hated to admit this, but I wasn't totally hating my time here. In fact, you could almost say that I enjoyed it. Almost. I was just waiting for the next thing to go wrong. What was I thinking?

We lined up single file to go back inside, the guards on either side of us. I was standing behind Abruzzi looking at the sidewalk as we walked. I didn't see Abruzzi look behind me and giving another guy a signal. He roughly pushed passed me and punched one of the guards in the face. Was he insane? The whole crowd of people started to go crazy and I dropped to the ground trying to avoid it all. I know that Abruzzi told me not to crawl on the ground during a scuffle, but I couldn't help it. It was on the ground that I saw what I saw. Whoever attacked the guard, had ahold of his keys and making an imprint of one on something. Then it hit me like a truck, a key! That was what Abruzzi and Michael must have been talking about. A gun shot rang out and all the inmates hit the ground. The guards quickly picked up that rogue inmate, and before anyone could see me I scooped up the key imprint.

The guards helped me up to my feet, and I noticed Abruzzi's disappointment when he couldn't find the imprint. I didn't know exactly what I planned to do with it, but I knew that I was going to get some answers one way or another.

We made our ways back to the cell and I stuck the imprint under my pillow. I slipped passed Abruzzi and was leaning against the cell door. It was open cell time so the other inmates could come and go as they pleased inside. I noticed the line up in Michael and Sucre's cell. I guess they were doing laundry. I could see Sucre, but I couldn't quite see Michael. I'm sure he was in there somewhere, though. I turned my attention back to Abruzzi, and I planned on confronting him about the imprint. I didn't get the chance though because the guards called out my name.

I guess that Doctor Tancredi wanted to see me. I followed officer Geary into the hospital wing where Sara was sitting at her desk. She saw me, but she didn't look particularly happy to see me. Not that I was super thrilled to see her either. She was probably jealous that I got to spend more time with Michael than she did. She was horrible at pretending that she didn't have a major thing for him. I thought about rubbing it in her face a little, but I wanted to act mature.

"Hey Dr. Tancredi," I spoke breaking the silence.

She seemed to warm up a little.

"Laney, it is nice to see you again, how are you feeling?"

"I'm hanging in there. Things are getting better. The inmates are starting to not look like they want to kill me."

She laughed, "well I have been here a couple of years and they still want to kill me, so good luck with that."

She asked me if she could check my broken nose and my injured back. I obliged and turned around so she could see my back. I felt like there was something I needed to tell her, but I just couldn't remember what it was. I started to review my time in Fox River. Abruzzi being an asshole, meeting Westmoreland, Abruzzi being an asshole, meeting Michael and Lincoln, Abruzzi being an asshole, meeting Tbag, Abruzzi being nice, Abruzzi being an asshole, and meeting C-note. C-note! That was it.

"Hey Sara can I ask you a question?" I asked pulling my shirt down.

I turned to face her and she nodded her head. She was listening even though she started examining my nose.

"What is PUGNAc?"

She stopped examining me and looked at me in the eyes. When she saw that I was completely serious, she answered.

"It is a drug that acts as a sort of inhibitor," she explained.

When she used some bigger words that I didn't understand, I realized that I was going to have to be more specific. I thought carefully before I said the next words.

"Can it affect the blood?"

She thought about it for a moment, then slowly nodded her head. I thought more carefully to think of the next thing to say.

"So can it, hypothetically (I always wanted to say that) raised some one's blood sugar to appear diabetic, but at the same time helps him be resistant to insulin?"

I wish I had camera to take a picture of the look that Sara was giving me. I knew it, she thought I was crazy. I thought I would just call it a day and go back to my cell, but before I reached the door I heard her call out.

"Yes, I suppose it can work like that," she whispered.

We both turned and looked at each other for a moment, and it was a look of realization. Without another word, I left the office.


	23. Chapter 23

I walked back to my cell again with so many thoughts swirling in my head. If Sara had realized the same thing that I had, then she realized that Michael was pretending to be diabetic. If he went to all that trouble to be diabetic, then he must really need to get into that medical wing, but why? I felt like I was one short dot away from connecting all the dots, but who knew how long it was going to take to discover that last dot?

I entered my cell, and saw that Abruzzi was still sitting in there, and he was talking to one of his buddies. I sat on my bunk and realized that they were talking about their little imprint thing. My hand slid under the pillow, and my fingers closed around it. Abruzzi was practically screaming at the other guy for not being able to find it. I picked it up in my hand and moved towards the door. I took a deep breath for the potentially dangerous thing I was about to do.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

I held up the imprint thing in between my two fingers twirling it back and forth. Abruzzi's and the other guy's eyes widened in both surprise and excitement. They reached out to take it, but I jerked it away. Abruzzi's eyes narrowed at mine.

"Now is not the time for your little game, Bella," said Abruzzi menacingly.

I shook my head and closed the imprint in my whole hand. They both flinched because if I put too much pressure on it, they could lose the imprint.

"I want answers John, and I want them now!"

He laughed and started to approach me. Well, actually he sort of stalked towards me. I was trying to hold my tough attitude, but I was starting to get intimidated. I flinched one time, but that was all the reassurance that he needed. He lunged at me, and wrapped on hand firmly around the wrist holding the imprint. He slammed it against the door and used his other hand to hold me into place.

"Let it go, Laney!" he growled.

"No, tell me what's going on. I am not stupid, I know you are up to something."

He sighed, and I didn't expect him to do what he did next. He gripped my wrist and twisted it around, causing me to squeal in pain and release the imprint. I fell to the ground gripping my already bruising wrist, while Abruzzi scooped up the key imprint and gave it to the other guy. Abruzzi then came over to me and lifted me into the air. I didn't want him to see me crying, but damn my wrist hurt. He set me down on the bunk, and got out some stuff to wrap my wrist. I couldn't even look him in the eye. I was feeling hurt, angry, embarrassed, confused, you name it. Abruzzi finished wrapping my wrist and went over to the other guy. I scooted myself back as far as I could go on my bunk, but I was still watching them. I held my wrist and took deep breaths to distract myself from the pain. Abruzzi and the other guy were melting something that was dripping into the imprint of the key. I realized that once the melted stuff dried into the imprint, it would make an exact copy of that key. I didn't dare open my mouth to say anything about it, but I couldn't watch them anymore so I looked out the door. I looked down to see Sucre pacing nervously around his, but I still didn't see Michael. He better hurry up and get back here, it is almost time for count. I think that I was sitting on my bunk for an hour without moving. I was staring at nothingness on the wall. The key had cooled enough for Abruzzi to pick it up. He held it up in front of his face, and it looked like a legitimate key.

Abruzzi quickly sprinted out of the cell, followed by the other guy and I was left alone. I laid back on my pillow and started sobbing. If my dad could have seen me, he would have told me that federal agents don't cry, but I was a human being too. I had feelings, and right now I was so overwhelmed with emotions that the only thing I could think of to let it out was to cry. Hot, angry tears flowed from my eyes, and I couldn't stop them. I knew I was going to cry until I got everything out.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would, and I was able to sit back up and wipe away the dried tears. I felt a little embarrassed at my little breakdown, and was thankful that no one was around to see it. I made my way over to the sink and I washed off my face, and attempted to wash off my injured wrist. I turned around and Abruzzi was standing in the door way. He was looking me up and down and I had a feeling he knew that I had been crying. I was going to say something, but I was interrupted.

"Line up cons, time for count," shouted Bellick.

I slowly followed up Abruzzi to the front of the cell, but tried to avoid looking at him. He tried to reach out for my injured wrist, but I jerked away. Bellick made his way from each cell calling out the inmate's names. They went outside and Bellick marked their names off. Then everyone moved back inside, and once the count was finished, the doors closed. Every con stepped up to the door to wait for their name to be called. I looked over to Michael's cell, but Sucre was still pacing back and forth, back and forth.

"Abruzzi, Collins," shouted Bellick.

We moved out of the cell one right after the other and Bellick marked us off. I was hoping that he wouldn't say anything, but he stopped in front of me and was staring at my wrist. I hid it behind my back, looked at him in the eyes and shook my head. He seemed satisfied and kept on walking. I took a breath and was glad that Bellick didn't ask what had happened. It would have been extremely difficult to come up with a lie with Abruzzi watching me. I continued to watch Bellick move from cell to cell.

"Scofield, Sucre," he called out.

I watched as only Sucre slowly made his way out of the cell. My eyes widened at the sight of Michael nowhere to be seen. Come on Laney, this can't be a coincidence, put the pieces together! Bellick went into the cell and searched around a bit, but he didn't find anything. I think I may have finally figured out what was going on.

"We got a runner!" Shouted Bellick blowing his whistle.

Everything started happening so fast after that. The sirens went off and all the inmates were shoved back into their cells. Bellick was interrogating Sucre trying to find out where Michael had gone. Even though Sucre wasn't going to crack, he looked scared to death. the other inmates were cheering and singing, all hoping that a fellow inmate could make an escape. Abruzzi, however, didn't look interested at all, and that is what bothered me the most.

"John!"

He looked back at me with a shocked expression. I doubted he thought that I would ever scream at him.

"What the hell is going on?" I spat in an angry voice.

I was done playing games with everyone. If I was right about what I think was going on, then I dug deeper than I ever dreamed too. Abruzzi just stared at me refusing to answer. He wasn't going to ignore me that easily though.

"I know there is something going here with you and Michael because it has something to do with that key, and if you don't tell me then I… I.. I will tell Bellick."

That got his attention because he stormed back to where I was standing. He hovered a few inches from me glaring down at me.

"And what do you think you would say to him?" he teased.

I stared at him because honestly I had no idea what I would say to Bellick. I was hoping that Abruzzi would feel threatened and feel like he had no choice but to give me answers. I tried to move past him, but he quickly grabbed my shirt and pulled me back to him. I looked back at him terrified.

"So you think you have it all figured out Bella? Then humor me. Ask me the question you have been wanting to ask."

I thought about it for a moment, still trying to piece everything together. I don't think my mind was completely made up before the words left my mouth.

"Are you trying to escape?"


	24. Chapter 24

I couldn't even tell what Abruzzi was thinking the way he looked at me. I didn't know whether he was angry because I figured it out, or he thought I was crazy. I assumed it could be either. He released his hold on my shirt and walked away. I almost spoke up again, but he laughed. He was laughing at me!

"Now that is a good one, that we are trying to escape," he continued laughing.

I wanted to argue him, but I couldn't think of anything to say. I had no legitimate proof of anything, and if they were escaping, why isn't Abruzzi out there with Michael right now? I just stood there staring at me looking like an idiot.

"Just do me a favor Laney and stop concerning yourself with things that are none of your business."

His comment surprised me, and I just continued staring at him. He was definitely up to something that he didn't want me to find out. I got a little excited because I could find something to use against Abruzzi for my assignment. My purpose for being here would finally pay off. I was caught up in thinking about busting Abruzzi that I didn't hear the alarms go off. I was brought out of my trance when I saw the guards bringing Michael back to his cell. The guards were bringing Michael back to his cell! I ran over to the door. He looked really upset about something, but I didn't know what. Bellick threw him into his cell and stormed off.

"Do you want to know where he was Bella?" called out Abruzzi.

I practically ran over and jumped onto my bunk. I begged and begged John to tell me, and he laughed and shook his head.

"The fish has been doing some work for the Warden, and he was staying a little longer to finish his work."

My face fell a little. It wasn't as exciting as I thought the story would be, but at least Abruzzi was telling me something. I thought to why the Warden would be asking for Michael's help. I remembered though that Michael was a structural engineer, and Pope was trying to construct that Taj Mahal thing. So that is where Michael must disappear to from time to time. Now I felt stupid for accusing them of trying to escape. It was silly of me to think that, of course they weren't trying to escape. It was impossible to escape a maximum security prison. I rolled onto my back and laughed at remembering Abruzzi laughing at me. I'm sure he thought I was insane.

I woke up the next morning, and I was feeling a little embarrassed to see Abruzzi again. To my relief, he didn't bring it up so I didn't say anything either. We went through our normal routine and made our way out to the yard. I said good morning to Westmoreland and we chatted for a little bit, and then I made my back to Abruzzi. He wasn't interested in me; however, he was looking across the fence. I turned my attention to where Michael was standing in chains. Abruzzi, Sucre, and I all ran over to the fence. Sucre looked defeated and Abruzzi looked angry. The guards started escorting Michael down to where he was going to be transferred. I also noticed Lincoln leaning up against his side of the fence watching Michael.

"Hey fish face, where you going?" Asked Abruzzi smacking the fence.

I didn't have to even look at Abruzzi to know that even though what he said was a joke, he was entirely serious. Michael walked passed all of us and only looked up to see Lincoln. Abruzzi walked over to the phones and dialed a number, and even though he was trying to be discreet, I heard every word.

"Call my wife, tell her to get the kids and get out of the country."

I realized that with Michael gone Abruzzi's hope of finding out where Fibonacci was, was slowly fading away. I hope that guy named Philly wouldn't take it out on Abruzzi's kids. Michael was out of sight now, but I watched the Warden walk by. I wondered if every time an inmate gets transferred that the Warden goes to speak to him. I was about to walk away when I noticed the gate open again. I expected it to be the Warden coming back in, but was surprised to see it was Michael. It looked like Sucre and Abruzzi were just as surprised. I was kind of glad that Michael wasn't transferring out of Fox River. Despite that fact that he was frustratingly mysterious, I did like the guy.

The guards brought him out to the yard and took of his chains. One at a time Sucre walked over and hugged Michael, Abruzzi spoke to him, and he talked to Lincoln for a moment. I waited my turn to see Michael. He smiled when he saw me approach.

"They stalled my transfer for the time being," he admitted.

"And what may I ask is the reason for you staying here in Fox River?" I asked.

I was hoping that Michael would give me an honest answer, but it didn't surprise me when he didn't.

"Sinusitis," he said simply.

I laughed because he took my advice in creating a name with the ending of "sitis". We both kept laughing until the guards called us in from yard time.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Yep that's right two updates in one day! I can't help it these next few chapters are like my favorite so I have been writing nonstop! As always reviews, messages, anything are always welcome! Enjoy =)**

"Good morning miss Collins," said Warden Pope as I made my way into his office. Bellick left us to talk and shut the door behind us.

"Morning Warden," I said politely.

I liked visiting with the Warden and everything, but these visits were starting to feel more like checkups than anything. He asked me if I wanted coffee or anything else, but I declined his offer. I was already getting used to no special food or anything and I didn't want to spoil it.

"May I ask you how everything is going?" he asked taking a sip of his coffee.

I told him everything was moving along good, but once again I said that I couldn't go into details. I told him that for a while now Abruzzi has been fairly cordial to me (if you don't count my wrist). He nodded his head and that if there was nothing else I needed, then Bellick would escort me back to the yard. My silence told him to call for Bellick, but right before he came in I spoke up.

"Sir why do you keep calling me in here?"

He looked at me and was shocked by my outburst. I don't think he thought that I would question him calling me in here. He couldn't even think of a good reason to lie because I had already figured it out.

"My dad told you too didn't he?" I asked coldly.

"He is just worried about you that's all," he responded not looking me in the eye.

I couldn't believe my dad. I was smart enough to figure out that he didn't set this up out of the kindness of his heart. He was afraid I was going to screw my job up. I nodded my head at the Warden at let Bellick escort me out, but inside I was fuming. I couldn't believe that my own father couldn't even trust me to do my job right. What was even worse, and more embarrassing was that he had got a babysitter for me to keep tabs on my progress. I knew that the next time my dad came to see me, I was going to give him a piece of my mind.

Bellick let me out onto the yard, and I was still pretty angry. I walked right over to where the bleachers were and I kicked one as hard as I could. A lot of good that did me because the only thing it accomplished was me injuring my toe. I felt my eyes start to tear up, but I quickly wiped them away. I needed to find something to distract me, and luckily for me I found it. Dr. Tancredi walked over to the fence right where Michael was standing. If she was worried at all about our previous conversation, she didn't show it. She was just standing their shooting the breeze with Michael. I had to laugh because one could almost say it looked like flirting. I had had enough of my spying and decided to go back inside.

Inside Gen Pop, I was just walking around when I noticed a younger looking kid sitting inside another cell.

"Hi," I said walking into the cell to see him.

He looked up at me, and looked so timid and frightened that it made me sad.

"Hi," he said quietly.

"I don't think I know your name," I said kneeling on the bunk next to him.

"Seth."

"I'm Laney," I said sticking out my hand.

He looked at me for a moment and then gently took my hand in his. I gave him a warm smile, and he almost returned one with the same warmth. This poor kid was scared to death.

"What are you doing sitting in here all alone? Most of the other inmates are either in the yard or just walking around."

"I was in the yard for a little while, but some other guys came and got me and told me to wait in this cell."

I was going to say more, but I heard laughing behind me followed by that same southern accent I had come to know and love. Did I say love?

"My my my, what do we have here?"

I quickly stood up and defensively moved in front of Seth. This was probably the reason the poor kid was so spooked. I looked at Tbag and there was one bruise that covered his eye, but he didn't look so bad.

"You're back," I muttered.

He smiled and stepped closer into the cell. I tensed up and I could feel Seth do the same.

"Yes my sweet Laneykins I just got back from the medical wing. And my boys here gots me a welcome back present, which you are standing in front of."

I heard snickers coming behind Tbag, and I looked back to Seth. He was staring down at the floor, but I knew he was terrified to be left alone with these men. I turned and looked back to Tbag. I knew I couldn't just stand here all day, and I didn't feel like fighting with Tbag so I looked at Seth sympathetically and started to move out of the cell. I had to move past Tbag and he lifted his arm so I had to walk right under him. I got a few inches from his arm and I turned to look at him.

"I'm glad you're ok," I said.

It wasn't completely a lie either. I moved under his arm and out of his cell. He followed me out, however, and grabbed me on the shoulder.

"I almost forgot about that, how you helped me to the medical wing," he said almost as a joke, "however am I going to thank you?"

I started to move away and to tell him he didn't need to thank me, but he pulled me into him and crashed his lips onto mine. I struggled to move away from him, but he only held me tighter. I could hear the laughing and cheering from the other inmates. The kiss was rough and full of lust. He bit my lip several times. I was finally able to break away from his hold and I smacked him hard across the face.

Abruzzi was by my side instantly making sure that I was safe. Tbag held onto his cheek and looked at me with nothing short of hate.

"What is wrong with you?" I shouted at Tbag.

Abruzzi put his hand on my shoulder, afraid that if I said the wrong thing I was going to set off Tbag. He was probably right.

"Well excuse me Laneykins, I was just trying to thank you," he joked.

"How about next time you just say thank you, you son of a bitch," I spat.

Abruzzi decided that that was enough of this conversation, and he pulled me back up to our cell. He sat me down on my bunk and was just staring at me for a moment. He then backed up and moved over to the sink.

"You may want to brush your teeth after that one Bella," he joked.

"Oh shut up!" I shouted, but I started to laugh.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: I know that you guys have been enjoying the speedy updates, and I am going to try and keep them as quick as possible. However, I just started my second year of college, and it is taking up a little of my writing time. Don't worry and hang in there, I won't abandon you! Enjoy =)**

I was just starting to notice how hot it was getting in here. I mean like I felt like I was being thrown into the inferno. I slipped off my socks and shoes letting my bare feet hang over the bed. I took my blue shirt off, revealing my white tank top, and slipped off my pants leaving some boxers I was given. Most of the inmates had stripped down to their white tank tops or no shirts at all too. What I usually did when I got too hot was try to take a nap, but it was harder to do in prison. I couldn't even get comfortable in my bunk because it was too damn hot!

Abruzzi had only taken off his shirt, but not his white top. The sweat was dripping off of his forehead, and he pushed his wet hair off of his face.

"Has it ever been this hot in here?" I whined to Abruzzi.

"Something must be wrong with the air conditioning," he admitted.

I moved over to the door. It was getting harder and harder to breath. I looked at all the other inmates trying to find their ways to stay cool. My eyes focused onto where Tbag's cell was. He was lying on his bunk with a cool rag over his eyes. The disturbing part of this scene was poor Seth was sweating his ass off feeding Tbag. Sometimes I really hated that man. Tbag got up and pushed Seth to the side as he approached his door. There was officer Geary over there watching all of the inmates drinking cold water. Of course his fat ass couldn't handle the heat.

"Geary when are we going to get some air in here?" shouted Tbag, "it's like 100 degrees in here."

That caught most of the inmate's attention, and everyone was listening to what Tbag had to say.

"We're working on it con," was all Geary could say.

A whistle blew out, and the officers yelled for all of the inmates to line up. The doors opened and each inmate filed out onto the line. I saw Bellick make an appearance through the cage, and he whispered something into Geary's ear.

"Laney, get down here now," he shouted.

I blinked a couple of times to make sure he was serious and slowly made my way down the stairs. The other inmates started to complain on my moving, but no one dared do anything. I tried to avoid eye contact as I walked past Tbag. I approached Bellick and he took me by the arm and led me into the cage.

"Warden asked me to come get you, and move you out of Gen Pop until the heat gets fixed," he said into my ear.

I looked at him and nodded my head, although I was still confused.

"The inmates will react to the heat in different ways, and we just want to make sure you are out of immediate danger."

It didn't really make any sense to me because I always in danger because I was in a prison, but I didn't argue with him.

"Where are your clothes?" he asked me.

"It is like 100 degrees in there," I countered.

Just then, he had someone buzz him over his radio and he had to leave, but he told me to wait here for him. He left and I turned around just in time to see Tbag step forward from the line.

"Get back on the line," threatened Geary.

"Not until we get some air flowing in here," responded Tbag.

The other inmates started yelling and agreeing with Tbag, and it made me feel a little apprehensive. Geary slowly started approaching Tbag.

"Quit whining con, it's not that hot."

I laughed to myself because that came from the mouth of the officer that just had like 15 cups of water.

"Not that hot!" joked Tbag.

He started walking closer and closer to Geary.

"When this guy woke up this morning he was white," mocked Tbag pointing to one of the black inmates.

I had to admit, that made me laugh too. The inmates were starting to get riled up all because of Tbag's speech. Geary must have sensed this and he continued to try and force them back on the line. He must have been trying to assert his control because Geary took his cup of water and splashed it into Tbag's face. That really got the inmates going, and Geary even started backing up a bit. The inmates, however, started moving forward.

"We want some air," said Tbag licking the water off of his lip.

Geary started yelling for the cons to get back on their lines, but they weren't listening. They started to get closer and closer.

"LOCKDOWN!" He finally shouted.

That only seemed to make matters worse, and make the inmates more furious. The guards moved back into the cage and locked it. That was the only thing keeping us from the other inmates, and more frighteningly, me from Tbag.

The inmates started climbing on to the cage, and I backed up clear to the door. I have never seen Tbag or anyone act this way before, so I knew we were in trouble. Bellick came back to get me and noticed all of the inmates hanging on the cage.

"You locked it down with inmates out of their cells?" he asked annoyed.

The inmates started to shake the cage, and I became even more nervous.

"Hey Bellick," shouted Tbag," A CO is so pathetic that he couldn't pass the police exam and now makes less money than the mailman."

The other inmates erupted with laughter and more insults, but Bellick only took his club and beat someone's fingers off of the cage.

"You know Teddy I didn't expect much more from the son of a retard," retorted Bellick.

I stared at Bellick wide eyed, and so did Tbag. The other inmates quieted for a moment so they could hear what Bellick had to say.

"I read your file Teddy, about how your daddy raped his retard sister, and nine months later you pop out."

I looked at Tbag, and the way he was looking at Bellick pained me. He looked shocked, hurt, embarrassed, and angry all at the same time. I almost said something, but Tbag beat me too it.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" He screamed at Bellick.

He was screaming over and over again, and all of the other inmates started thrashing wildly against the cage. I was terrified, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Tbag. I don't know why but I felt so sorry for him that Bellick humiliated him.

"Tbag please," I said before I could stop myself.

All the guards looked back at me with shocked faces, and I looked back to see that Tbag had stopped shaking again. He was just looking at me and the other inmates stopped shaking. We stood there for a few moments with just me and Tbag staring at each other. Bellick took his club and beat the cage again, which snapped Tbag out of his trance.

"Tell me Bellick, why does she get to be moved out into some place cooler; that hardly seems fair Laneykins."

I looked at Bellick because I didn't know what to say and apparently he didn't either. Tbag took that as a sign and continued.

"Come back in here Laney, we can make it hotter, but it will all be worth it."

The other inmates started laughing and shaking again. I noticed that they were shaking so hard that the bolts on the cage we starting to come loose. Eventually, they were going to get into the cage. Bellick must have noticed that too because he gripped my hand and started to move us toward the door.

"That's it the train's coming!" Screamed Tbag. "Get on the Train!"

Bellick pulled open the door and pulled me along with him. The other guards and I sprinted down the hallway into Bellick's office. He locked the door and pulled a case out of his drawer. I was watching the inmates rip open the cage from the TV in his office. They started off easy just ripping up papers here and there. Tbag made his way over to the control panel and let all of other inmates in Gen Pop out of their cells. I took my eyes off of the TV for a moment to realize that Bellick had a gun pulled out, loaded and waiting. I looked back to the TV and saw Tbag looking at something on the floor. He picked it up and I realized that they were the keys. My heart sank as I thought about the inmates having access to the rest of the prison. Bellick noticed too and started moving for the door.

"Stop Bellick, stop," called Geary, "how many shots do you think you would give out before they got you?"

Bellick stopped and turned back towards me. he grabbed me roughly by my shoulder and pulled me towards the door.

"Laney, I want you to run to the medical wing right now. Dr. Tancredi and another guard are in there and you will be safe there."

The guards looked shocked and I just nodded my head in agreement. He opened the door and pushed me out of it closing it behind him. I started running down the hallway looking for medical wing. I couldn't decide if Bellick left me because he was trying to protect me or trying to protect himself. I hurried down the hallway without looking back.


	27. Chapter 27

I was so panicked; I didn't even know where I was running. I am pretty sure that I ran down the wrong hallway. I was afraid I was going to run into some of the other inmates that got out of Gen Pop. Or worse, I was going to run into Tbag. I knew I just had to find the medical wing and fast. They didn't sound the alarm or anything, which I attributed to the guards not wanting to hype up the other inmates. I think I finally made a right turn down a hallway. It sort of looked familiar. I thought back to watching Tbag completely lose his mind during the count. All the inmates had gone crazy. I didn't want to attribute it all to the heat either. They attacked that cage like a bunch of wild animals.

And then Bellick humiliated Tbag by announcing his history in front of everyone. I never would have guessed that he had had a past like that. It was kind of sad, and for a little while I felt bad for him. And then I stopped feeling bad when I thought to him kissing me. At the same time he could totally gross me out and amaze me.

I finally found the medical wing! However, I didn't want to just barge in there shouting to high heavens that Gen Pop was breeched. I poked my head around the corner and looked in the window. I wished that I hadn't at the sight that I saw. The inmates had gone insane, the guard was handcuffed to a support beam and Sara was hiding in her office. By the looks of things, she wasn't going to be hiding much longer. One of the inmates was trying to break down the door with the fire extinguisher. I wanted to help out, I did, but what was I going to do. I could probably take down most of the inmates, but that would raise questions. I was sure the Sara would be ok, so I took off running down the hallway. I thought that maybe I could run to the Warden's Office. They probably all have evacuated by now, but I could use the phone to call my dad or something. I turned the other direction at started heading for his office.

I rounded the corner, and stopped dead in my tracks. Inmates from Gen Pop were heading straight for me! I quickly was running away before I even had time to process what I was doing. I was just running and turning, running and turning, running and turning. I didn't even know where I was, or where I was going. I am pretty sure that I was running in circles, when a familiar face caught my eye.

"Lincoln!" I shouted running to him.

He must have just been to a visitation, and a guard was escorting him back to his cell. Hey, I knew that guard. His name was Bob, he just started working here. Our families were friends, and I was pretty close with his daughter. He must have recognized me too.

"Laney, what are you doing.." he said.

I shook my head at him, which caused him to shut up. Lincoln approached very closely to me and asked me what was happening. I told him that Tbag and some other inmates had started a riot because of the heat, and they breeched their wing. His next question came as no surprise to me. He asked me if Michael was ok. I shook my yes, but I told him that we needed to move because the other inmates were headed this way and I was afraid they would find us. As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard the voice of the inmate that I wanted to see the least.

"Well, lookie lookie, a rookie CO, and my sweet little Laneykins. And it ain't even Christmas boys."

I backed up behind Bob, and Lincoln was fidgeting with the keys trying to get to get his cuffs off.

"Get out of here Tbag," he yelled.

"Now Linc, we can all learn to share. I'll be generous and let you pick which one floats your boat. And we will just take the reject pile. So do you want Laneykins, or Bobby?"

I flinched at what he was proposing and Bob did the same. I was nervous to what Lincoln was going to say. I wanted him to save Bob because I believed that I could take care of myself, but I didn't want to go up against Tbag.

"No deal." Replied Lincoln simply.

He held one of his open cuffs in his hand, the sharp end, and he was preparing himself for a battle. I was doing the same thing mentally. Poor Bob must have panicked because he tried to run past, but I quickly grabbed his arm.

"What are you doing? They will kill you," I screeched.

The other inmates surrounding Tbag slowly started to approach Lincoln. He pulled Bob and myself as far back along the cage as we could go.

"Have you ever seen those videos where a whole bunch of cheetahs gang up on a defenseless animal? Guess which one you are?" Mocked Tbag to Lincoln.

Lincoln laughed to himself, and grabbed the first inmate he could reach and smashed in his face with his head. My God, Lincoln was a beast! He was trying to take down three inmates at a time, but a few others came at Bob and me. I stuck my fingers in between the holes of the cage and lifted myself into the air. Both of my feet came into contact with two of the inmate's jaws, and the fell to the floor. The inmates looked shocked, and I didn't blame them. It is not every day that you could meet anyone, let alone a girl who could that. I was throwing punches left and right at the inmates, but nothing seemed to take them down. Two had already grabbed Bob, so it just left me and Lincoln fighting. I elbowed a guy in the nose that tried to sneak up behind me, and I heard a crunch. I turned around and saw Tbag smack Lincoln over the head with a pipe. He fell to the floor unconscious.

"Lincoln, no!" I screamed running to him.

One of the other inmates tackled me the floor before I could reach Lincoln. With one hand he was pushing my face into the floor, with his other he was restraining my hands behind my back. That didn't mean I couldn't use my feet, though. I thrashed and kicked like crazy, but it didn't take long for someone to restrain my feet either. I tried looking to see if Bob or Lincoln had gone anywhere, but the only thing I could see was a pair of shoes in front of my face.

The inmate holding my arms let go of my face and lifted my in the air by my shorts. He still had my arms pinned behind my back, but I was on my feet looking directly at Tbag. Lincoln was still lying on the ground not moving, and Bob was getting the crap beat out of him. Tbag took his hand grabbed my cheeks forcing me to look at him. His eyes were brutal, and the showed no kindness or remorse. I swallowed, and feared that I wasn't going to make it out of this alive.


	28. Chapter 28

Tbag and the other inmates dragged Bob and carried me back to Gen Pop. They moved their way through the crowds and climbed the stairs to the very top. They left Bob lying on the ground, but Tbag held me by the back of my neck. He took the pipe in his other hand and started beating on the railing while dragging me down the stairs. His banging got all of the inmate's attention, and they started cheering when the saw me. My eyes tried to find anyone who could help me, but I didn't see Michael or Sucre. My eyes did stop on Abruzzi. He looked at me with a worried look, and I couldn't stop the tears that started flowing from my eyes. I wanted him to rescue me, and make sure that I wouldn't be hurt, but he only turned his head the other way. Tbag pushed me against the railing and I let out a sob.

"Don't worry everyone," announced Tbag, "once I have had my fun with Laneykins, everyone will get their turn."

All of the other inmates erupted in cheers. I started to protest, but Tbag pulled me against his chest. For a good show, he put his hand on my hip and started working the side of my shirt up.

"Please, please no," I cried out.

Tbag laughed and snaked his arms around mine lacing our fingers together. He turned my face to the side so it was only inches away from his.

"Now my sweet Laneykins, this is going to happen, so the less you struggle the more smoothly it will go."

I let out another cry, and Tbag started dragging me to find a cell. I kept trying to plead with him, hoping I could find any decent part of him, but nothing seemed to work. We walked by Bob, and I gave him a pleading look. He looked as though he might lose consciousness at any given moment, but he sat up and tripped Tbag. I fell to the floor and pushed myself up onto my knees. While Tbag was busy punching Bob, I tried to crawl away.

"Where do you think you're going?" I heard Tbag call.

I pleaded for him to stop and I kept trying to crawl away. He grabbed my ankles and pulled me down the aisle. I screamed and tried to get away, but I couldn't do it. He flipped me onto my back, and squatted down so he was sitting on my stomach. I squirmed underneath him but he wouldn't budge. I thought to myself that there was one last thing that I could try. I sat myself up as far as I could go and punched Tbag right in the face. He fell backwards and I fell back onto my back. I didn't have any energy left in me to fight, and Tbag got right back up and lunged at me. He was nowhere close to being finished.

Tbag punched me in the face over and over and over and over again. It was punch after punch after punch. I was starting to lose consciousness, and it was getting difficult to see because of the blood running in front of my eyes. I was screaming and begging with Tbag, but he wasn't letting up. He pulled me up by my shirt and threw me into the nearest cell. I fell onto the lower bunk and tried to sit myself up. Tbag pushed me back down onto the bunk and placed one hand onto my hip. His other hand made his way up to my shirt and tore one my straps off of my tank top. He brought his face down to try and kiss me, but I turned my head so he settled on kissing my neck. He took one of his hands and started to fiddle with his pants. I started pleading with him again, but it only fell on deaf ears. I was bracing myself for the inevitable when Bob burst through the cell and tackled Tbag. I started crying and pulled myself into the corner of the bed. Tbag had picked up Bob and threw him into the toilet, but when he fell backwards he took the toilet with him. Both Tbag and I were staring at where the toilet used to be, and now there was a hole in the wall. I couldn't make myself say what I was thinking, but Tbag managed to say it for me.

"They're escaping," he whispered.

He said it again and again, but I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't take my eyes off the hole, and I wondered whose cell we were in?


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Well, it finally happened. Laney found out what was going on! Thanks so much to all the readers out there, I really appreciate it! Feel free to review or send me a message with questions, suggestions, ideas...ANYTHING! Enjoy =)**

"They're escaping," whispered Tbag.

I was staring at the hole in wall where Bob had ripped off the toilet. Tbag went to yell again, but Abruzzi had slammed him into the bunk and covered his mouth. Abruzzi whispered "shh" into his ear. I looked at Abruzzi and immediately felt safe. I thought the reason for him coming into the cell was to protect me from Tbag. I tried to move over to him, but I was so sore and tired that I couldn't move. I just stayed hidden in the corner. There was movement in the hole in the wall, and everyone turned their attention to see who was coming out. To my surprise, out of the hole came Michael Scofield and Sucre. Why didn't it really surprise me at all?

"We have a little problem," said Abruzzi.

At that moment, I realized that Abruzzi had lied to me. They were all trying to escape and I had been right all along. At first I was angry that I had been lied to, but it changed when I realized that I had hit the undercover jackpot. Not only could I bring down Abruzzi with my discovery, I could take out three other inmates as well. I would finally be able to prove to my dad that I was not just a good federal agent, but a great one.

"You bet we have a problem, Bob and Laney have seen the hole," said Tbag. "We have to take care of it."

Tbag moved towards me and I whimpered and tried to back away even though there was nowhere else to go. Abruzzi grabbed Tbag and threw him outside of the cell. He grabbed Tbag by the throat and held him against the railing.

"I don't know how any of this concerns you," spoke Abruzzi.

"It is my concern because Bob and Laney are a threat to _our _escape. And if you think you can take me out let me ask you this. How fast do you think you can kill me before I sing to high heavens about that little hole? Then everyone in here will know about it. So this is all of _our _problems," threatened Tbag.

Michael held his head in his hands, and Abruzzi and Tbag came storming back into the cell. They both were looking at Bob and me. Bob turned to Michael.

"Please, I have a daughter," he spoke.

Michael looked down to Bob and then looked back at me. I gave him my biggest puppy dog eyes that I could manage. I don't know how it looked because of the blood all over my face, but I must have done something right.

"No one is getting killed," he commanded.

Bob and I both breathed a sigh of relief, but I felt like our troubles weren't over there. Tbag stormed out of the cell, and Abruzzi came over to my side. He had his blue shirt in his hand, and he gestured for me to come closer to him. I moved over and he started wiping the blood out of my face. I started to cry and he wrapped his arm around me. When he was done cleaning off my face, he took his shirt and wrapped it around my body trying to cover me up. I rested my head against his shoulder and continued to cry quietly.

"Shh, it's all right Bella," he whispered.

He said the words to comfort me, but I still didn't feel safe sitting in this cell.

"Were you going to let him hurt me John?" I asked.

Before he had a chance to answer, Michael spoke up first.

"We have to prevent the SWAT team from coming in so I can keep digging. John tell the guards outside that we have a CO here."

Abruzzi nodded and exited the cell. At the same time, Tbag came storming back into the cell. I scurried back to my corner and I could see Bob tense up too. We all sat there in silence for a moment, before we heard someone call out.

"They're about to get the doctor!"

Michael looked as though he might be sick and ran out of the cell. By the last time I saw Sara, I was surprised that they hadn't gotten to her already. She must have some good fight in her if she was still holding on strong. It sounded like though her fight was just about over. Michael came rushing back into the cell and moved towards the hole.

"Sucre I am going to need you to finish what we have started," he said.

Sucre looked nervous, but he nodded his head. Michael was about to go back into the hole, but something stopped him and he came back out.

"No one touches the CO or Laney," he demanded, "no one."

The last one was directed at Tbag and he scowled at Michael, but nodded his head. Michael disappeared into the hole. I think that they questioned where Michael was going in a hurry, but I had a pretty good idea. If I had to guess, I would say that he was going to save the doctor. I guess he really did care about her.


	30. Chapter 30

_The guards were standing outside of Fox River watching the riot take place before them. They wondered how things got out of hang so quickly. There was definitely a fear that not only the guards but that Warden Pope's ass would be on the line for this. They were trying to coordinate the SWAT team to get ready and break up the riot. Officer Bellick made his way over to where the Warden was standing._

_"We've got the water turned off and the SWAT team is ready to go," Bellick said._

_Pope nodded in approval, but he wasn't ready for the team to go in just yet. He wanted to give the inmates a chance to give themselves up first. His whole beliefs rested on the fact the prison could be a chance of rehabilitation and not a form of punishment. He told Bellick that going in there too soon wasn't protocol, and he hoped that Bellick believed him. _

_They watched as an unfamiliar helicopter flew in over Fox River. Bellick rolled his eyes in disgust at whatever big wig was going to be strolling in here. A voice shouting out of the prison got all out their attention._

_"Hey we need the air turned back on," shouted one of the inmates._

_Bellick scoffed at the inmate's demand. He was probably the last person in the world who was in the position to make demands. Pope looked more serious however. He knew that they were probably making a demand that they could back up. _

_"We got that new CO up in here," he shouted next._

_Pope turned and looked at Bellick questioningly. He thought that all of the guards had made it out safely. Bellick told him that Bob didn't make the count. Pope ran his fingers through his hair. That poor kid was probably frightened for his life. The helicopter finally landed and Governor Tancredi himself stepped out. But that wasn't all. Agent Collins also stepped off with him. Pope straightened his tie and walked over to them. _

_"Governor, how are you doing? Agent Collins nice to see you again." He said a little cheesy._

_They both nodded their heads, but Pope knew they were here for a very serious matter. They both spoke up at the same time._

_"Where are our daughters?"_

_Pope swallowed and took a deep breath. He really didn't know where either girl was, he had just assumed that they were safe. Bellick spoke up for the Warden though._

_"Not too worry, Sara is in a completely separate part of the prison, and I sent Laney in that direction, so they should be safe."_

_That voice from the prison called out again. _

_"We also have the doctor and the girl prisoner, so turn on the air or we can kill them both."_

_Bellick felt completely humiliated standing in front of both girls' fathers. They looked as though they could strangle Bellick for giving them false hope. The stormed off commanding different orders to people in order to get their daughters out safely. Pope turned back to Bellick._

_"We have got to do everything we can to get those two girls out now!" he said._

_"We can't sir, it's not protocol," replied Bellick._

_Pope looked at Bellick and then turned his attention back to the prison. He really hoped for everyone's sake that the girls were both safe._

Back in the cell, Tbag was busy sitting on the floor removing Bob's shoes, socks, and belt. It made me a little nervous when he started taking off the belt, but I doubted that Sucre would let anything happen to us. My pain was starting to go down just a little bit, but I still felt like I might lose consciousness at any moment.

are going to do with these two," said Tbag.

"Nothing." Replied Sucre coldly.

Tbag looked like that didn't really matter and that he could kill either of us at any moment. I was so afraid because I knew he was right.

"I'm not going to say anything I promise," muttered Bob, "I didn't, I didn't see anything."

"That's right you didn't see nothing," corrected Sucre.

Tbag moved over and lifted the sheet so it covered the cell. At first, I wondered why, but I figured it out once Sucre started to move towards the hole in the wall.

"No!" Bob and I both shouted at the same time.

He turned at looked at us.

"Please don't leave us here with him," I whispered.

"It will be ok, I'll be back," he said.

Sucre then disappeared through the hole. I turned to look at Tbag as he dropped the sheet. He pushed Bob to make him cover up the hole with toilet, and turned towards me. After my attack, I still couldn't look him in the eye. He moved over and took the belt in his hands. He grabbed my hands and tied them around one of the bars on the bed with the belt. I tried to move my hands, but he tied them too tight and I was stuck where I was.

About an hour had passed, and we were still waiting on Sucre to get back. Tbag hadn't caused much trouble, and he was now going through Bob's wallet. He was still sitting on the floor, and I was still tied up against the bed. Tbag had just pulled out Bob's home address and made some snarky comment. He then found the picture of Bob's daughter.

"Ah, is this your daughter going to the prom?" he joked.

Bob shifted uncomfortably and asked for Tbag to put the picture back. Tbag laughed and kissed the back of the photo. I knew he was just doing this to torment Bob, and it was really starting to piss me off.

"Do you know what she did with the dress?" He asked biting his lip, "I bet she had to throw it away to hide from daddy that she was out all night long."

"Leave him alone Teddy!" I shouted.

I wished that I hadn't because he turned his attention to me and grinned his devil grin. He got up and slowly moved towards me.

"I almost forgot in all of the excitement Laneykins. We were right in the middle of something before we were interrupted. Should we pick up where we left off?"

He sat down on the edge of the bunk, and ran a finger up my leg. I tried to move away, but my tied up hands made that almost impossible. Tears were forming in my eyes and I just wished that he would go away. His hand had just reached my upper thigh.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" shouted Abruzzi angrily.

Tbag quickly moved away from the bed and a few tears fell from my eyes. Tbag defended himself saying he was just talking "women" with Bob. That didn't seem to satisfy Abruzzi though. He grabbed Tbag roughly by the elbow and shoved him against the wall. He was giving him a lecture on how they were stuck in this arrangement, and that meant that he wasn't going to hurt me or Bob. Tbag laughed and left the cell. Abruzzi sat down next to me and started to untie my hands.

"Thank you," I muttered weakly.

"You're welcome."

I gave him a soft smile, but he didn't return one. I didn't know why he was angry at me. If anything, I should be the angry one because I was the one that has been lied to for the past few days. What upset me the most was when I asked him about it, he looked me straight in the eyes and lied to me. I suppose that is what I should expect from a criminal, but it still hurt. Abruzzi moved over to the toilet and peeked behind to where light was coming in. His eyes lit up as he moved towards the hole. No matter how angry I was, I didn't want him to leave me.

"Don't go John, please," I said trying out my puppy eyes on him.

He moved over to where I was sitting and brushed my cheek with his fingers. I winced because of Tbag punching me over and over again.

"You will be safe Bella, I promise," he said.

With that, he pulled back the toilet and was gone. I watched him go, and I really hoped that he was right about my safety.


	31. Chapter 31

Bob and I were alone in the cell for what seemed like an eternity. I was finally starting to give into my injuries and I was lying down on the bed. I was trying to fight going to sleep because I was afraid of what was going to happen if I fell asleep. Eventually, I gave in and I told myself that I would shut my eyes for just a few minutes.

_I had just gotten of church service. I was wearing a white summer dress and my long hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Melanie was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. We always went out for lunch after church. I waved goodbye to my dad who was smiling proud at me while talking to Bob and his family. I looped my arm through Melanie's and we strolled down the sidewalk. She was telling me about her latest crush, and I just laughed at my best friend. Our laughter was cut off short by the sound of a gunshot and screaming. I turned around to see my dad pulling out his gun and running behind the church. Bob was lying on the ground not moving. _

_The next thing was Melanie and I holding hands running through the woods. I had the feeling that we were being chased. I could hear footsteps and I pulled on Melanie's hand tighter and picked up the pace. We ran and made it through the clearing. I stopped for just a second to try and get a sense of where I was going when a shot rang out. I turned back around to see where the shot had come from and I felt my hand loosen up. I looked over and Melanie was lying on the ground, a bullet wound in her head. _

_"No!" I screamed._

_I bent down and cradled her head. I wanted her to wake up so badly, but she just wouldn't. The tears were flowing from my eyes, and they didn't stop until the footsteps came behind me. I turned around quickly and was looking at the person with the gun. Theodore Bagwell was looking down at me with a wicked grin on his face. Michael Scofield, Lincoln Burrows, and Fernando Sucre were standing a few yards back. I didn't know how I knew their names, but I did. Tbag looked down at me and laughed. He pointed the gun at me and it was sitting right between my eyes. I couldn't help but feel like all of this was my fault. Like there was something that I could have done to stop all of this from happening. Another gunshot rang out, but the gun at my face had moved. Tbag fell to the ground and Michael, Linc, and Sucre all ran away. I looked to see where the shot came from and I saw the figure standing in the shadows. I instantly recognized his figure as my father. I got up and ran over to him and threw my arms around him. He returned the hug, and I pulled back to look into his face. I screamed when I looked into his face, but it wasn't my father. _

_It was John Abruzzi._

I woke with a start from my dream. I realized that some time must have passed since I first shut my eyes. Bob was still sitting on the floor, but he was staring in my direction. That is when I realized that someone was massaging my head. He was sitting on the edge of the bed giving me enough room for my nap. I thought it was kind until I lifted my eyes to see who it was. Of course, it was Tbag that was playing with my hair. He hadn't realized I was awake yet, and I have to admit that it felt kind of nice having my head massaged. It made some of the pain go away. I just laid there for a moment listening to Tbag talk.

"You know Bobby, after I kill you I am going to get out of here. And when I do I am taking your baby to the prom."

Bob flinched and I decided that I needed to stop him from frightening Bob. I made a small noise to signal that I was awake. Tbag looked down at my face and brushed his fingers across my forehead.

"Sweet Laneykins, did you have a nice nap? I just couldn't disturb you because you looked so pretty sleeping."

I nodded my head, but I couldn't help but think back to my dream. Tbag had murdered my best friend, and God knows who else. Even though it was just a dream, it felt so real to me. I sat up and moved away from Tbag. It sounded like things were going crazy outside. The inmates were all yelling and an alarm started going off. I realized now that Michael has been gone for a really long time, and I hoped that he was able to get to Sara. I thought that I could hear someone calling out Michael's name. Lincoln shortly appeared later into the cell. He took one look and saw me sitting on the bed all banged up, and Bob sitting on the floor. He suddenly became furious and grabbed Tbag by the throat.

"Take it easy, I'm on your side now," reasoned Tbag.

Lincoln's eyes went wide and he looked back to me. I just shrugged my shoulders, and the toilet moved forward. Sucre poked his head out from the hole to see Lincoln choking the life out of Tbag. He crawled out and helped Abruzzi out. Lincoln let go out Tbag and drug Sucre out of the cell. Abruzzi walked over to where I was sitting.

"Come on, let's get you out of here," he said lifting me to my feet.

I nodded my head and let Abruzzi lead me out of the cell. Lincoln was screaming at Sucre then stormed off. I walked over to the railing and watched Lincoln descend the stairs. I followed his gaze and found Michael wandering around. Lincoln grabbed his shoulder and embraced his brother in a hug. When I watched the brothers hug it was like nothing else in the world mattered to them. They were both safe, and it was amazing to see just how close they really were. I could have watched them all day, but I wouldn't get that luxury. Someone had grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back into the cell. Abruzzi tried to grab me, but my hand slipped through his. Tbag held me up against his chest with one hand around my throat. I let out a squeal, but Tbag only gripped tighter. Michael and Lincoln appeared back at the cell and were watching nervously like Abruzzi and Tbag.

"I think now is the time to discuss our 'situation'," said Tbag referring to Bob and me.

I looked to Michael with pleading eyes, trying to beg him not to let Tbag kill us. I didn't want to die, and I wanted the chance to bust their escape.

"We're not going to kill them," announced Michael.

"They are going to rat us out," said Tbag, "I want to make sure that doesn't happen.

I shook my head trying to signal that I wasn't going to snitch, but it didn't work well with Tbag holding my throat.

"I'm not going to say anything, I swear!" pleaded Bob.

Everything happened so quickly after that. Sucre jumped in and pulled me from Tbag's hands, Lincoln reached over and pulled Bob out of the cell. He threatened Bob to keep his mouth shut, and told him to go. Abruzzi pulled Tbag from the cell and separated him from the rest of us. Once Tbag was headed in the other direction, Abruzzi reached for my hand and told me that he was getting me out of here. We weaved through the crowds of inmates all trying to have their last moments of fun. The SWAT team was getting ready to bust in, and Abruzzi wanted me out before they did. I was still really weak from my injuries, and it was taking all of my strength to keep up with Abruzzi.

We made our way down the stairs, and just about to leave Gen Pop when a body crashed onto the floor. I turned to see Bob lying on the floor bleeding out.

"Oh my God! Bob no!" I screamed and ran over to him.

The tears were flowing from my eyes as I tried to stop the bleeding. Someone had stabbed him several times. He looked up to me and gave me a smile, and then stopped moving. I started to sob and I looked up from where he had fallen. Tbag was leaning over the rail with a knife in his hands. Fury filled me and I wanted nothing more than to kill Tbag. I was still sobbing when Abruzzi placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Come on Bella we have to go," he said.

"No! No! No! No! No!," I fought back.

I wasn't, no I couldn't leave Bob here with all of these animals. He deserved better than that. Abruzzi was trying to pry me from Bob, but I wouldn't let go. He wrapped his hands around mine and slowly pulled them from Bob's shirt. My hands were soaked with blood from where I tried to stop the bleeding. I was still sobbing and I had no energy left in me to walk out of the prison. Abruzzi scooped me up into his arms and I gripped onto his shirt tight. I was still crying and I wanted nothing more than to get out of this place. We eventually reached the door because I heard Abruzzi call out.

"I'm going to carry her outside."

The sun was bright and it was hurting my eyes, so I buried my face into Abruzzi. I could hear voices all around me, but one voice stood out in particular,

"Laney, my God!"

The voice that I recognized was Warden Pope's.

"Take her to the ambulance over there."

When we reached our destination several hands all started touching me at once. It freaked me out, and it made me think that I was back inside the prison.

"No, don't touch me!" I shouted only gripping Abruzzi's shirt tighter.

They were trying to literally pull me away from him, but I wasn't budging. I started to cry again, and I begged for John to not let me go. He brought his face forward and whispered into my ear.

"Everything is going to be all right, let them help you."

I looked up at him and slowly released my hands. There were blood stains on his shirt from where I was gripping. Once I was safely away from him, the guards forced him onto the ground and handcuffed him. I felt guilty because he was only trying to help me. They lifted me into the ambulance. The EMT there quickly stuck an IV in my arm and tried to put an oxygen mask on. I tried to fight the mask because I knew they would put me to sleep. I saw Bellick standing outside of the ambulance checking on me, and I signaled for him to come over. He approached slowly, but realized that I wanted to tell him something.

"Bob's dead," I whispered.

He looked at me shocked, but he believed me. I had started crying again, and my dad shortly appeared at the sound of my crying.

"Don't upset her, get out!"

Bellick looked angry at my father's outburst, but he left the ambulance. My dad climbed in and sat down by my side. He didn't say anything to me, he just watched me lie there. I felt like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the right thing to say. The EMT came back in and slipped the oxygen mask around my face. The ambulance started moving, and I was starting to feel sleepy. I knew it. From the windows in the door I could see the outlines of Fox River as we pulled away from it. I drifted off to sleep a few seconds later.


	32. Chapter 32

I had to stay in hospital for a few days. Every day, Melanie was there by my side. She had been terrified that I would be killed and she didn't want me to go back into the prison. I told her the decision wasn't up to me if I could go back in or not. On my last day at the hospital, I had just a few scrapes and bruises left on my face. One day Melanie even cut my hair so she could get rid of my split ends. My hair was starting to grow out, but I hadn't worn it up in a ponytail once. What I really loved about Melanie visiting was that I could tell her everything that has happened. And I mean everything.

"Are you sure they are trying to escape?" she asked playing with my hair.

"Of course, I saw the hole, and I heard them talking about it."

"Then maybe you should tell your dad," she suggested.

I pulled back away from her. I thought about telling my father the very first thing, but I still hadn't done it yet. Melanie offered that she could bring it up to my dad if I was too frightened to do it.

"No, Melanie promise me that you aren't going to say anything."

"I don't understand you, why can't you just rat them out?" she said frustrated.

I shook my head at her. I couldn't give her a reasonable answer because I didn't have one myself. I guess I just wanted more time to figure things out.

"Is it because you have feelings for them?" Melanie finally blurted out.

"What! No of course not, why would you even say that?"

She gave me a look that she didn't believe me, and I returned a look meaning to explain why she would bring it up.

"Well you have been locked up in a cell with John Abruzzi, and he did save your life."

"Are you serious," I laughed, "even if that mattered, he has a wife and kids. I swear to you that I do not have any romantic feelings for Abruzzi."

"Ok, well what about the brothers? They are both like extremely gorgeous, and they seem to treat you right."

"It doesn't matter how good looking they are Melanie. I am pretty sure that Lincoln has a kid, and I think Michael has feelings for someone else in Fox River."

"Oh right the doctor. Well what about his cell mate?"

"Taken."

She sighed and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. She always did that when she got stressed out. I thought it was funny.

"Then why are you protecting them?" she asked.

"I'm not protecting them; I just want a little more information, that's all."

She seemed satisfied with the answer for the time being, and she changed the subject. I was grateful because I really didn't want to talk about this anymore. She however, wasn't going to give it up that easily.

"I promise you that I won't say anything for the time being, but if your safety is jeopardized, then I will break that promise," warned Melanie. "I won't lose my best friend."

I couldn't be mad at Melanie for something like that. We cared about each other a lot and our friendship went way back. Like I said before, both of our dads worked for the FBI. We were practically raised together. We both understood the joys and concerns of having dads that work for the government. We could practically get anything that our hearts desired, except our father's attention. We had way too many sleepovers to count because of loneliness. When our fathers would be around, they would be so emotionless around us. Dads that worked in the FBI didn't have time to play dolls with their daughters or watch a movie.

Here's another thing that Melanie and I both have in common. Both of our mothers are dead. I lost my mother when I was six due to breast cancer. I barely even remember her, but everyone tells me I look just like her. Melanie's story is a bit more tragic. When she was eight years old her father had made this huge drug bust. Right before they were due in court, a threat came out against her family. They were well protected, but one evening Melanie's mother went out to the store for like 15 minutes. She was gunned down on her way home. So the majority of our lives, we have only had our fathers and each other.

High school was probably the toughest time of my life. My dad was always on my case about getting good grades for college, and he was so strict. He hammered into my brain that I was going to make a great Federal Agent, but they wouldn't take me if I had a record. Melanie's dad was pretty much the same way, so we coped through that together. Go figure, that when we graduated, our dads only wanted the best and sent us away to the same school. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome being in the same place as my best friend, but I lacked that freedom to do what I wanted.

Melanie decided about half way through college that she didn't want to be an agent, but still wanted to work for the Feds. I had to comfort her the whole night because she wouldn't stop crying. Her dad was yelling at her on the phone for a good hour. The most time Melanie and I ever spent apart was when I went to training and she started her job. We talked on the phone a lot, but it wasn't the same. I just finished training and gotten my undercover assignment not long after that. So yeah, Melanie and I were close.

I looked at Melanie and wrapped my arms around her. We both started laughing and crying, we were quite the site to see.

"Am I interrupting ladies," said my dad.

We broke apart from our hug, and wiped our eyes. We both knew that crying was a sign of weakness. Melanie said she needed to get back to work, but she would stop by later. I was left alone with my father. He walked over to the bed, and examined my face. I was lucky enough to have to avoid counseling for my attack in the prison.

"I talked to Anderson today Laney," my father said.

I sucked in a huge breath. Anderson was the guy to give the go ahead on the undercover operations. If he thought I wasn't ready to go back in, then I don't go back in.

"He said that if you're ready the operation is still a go."

I couldn't believe they were giving me another chance. I was trying to keep my emotions in check in front of my dad, but I was ecstatic. I wanted to get back into that prison and find out what the hell was going on?

"Ready as I'll ever be dad."

He gave me an approving nod, and went to call Anderson. I rested back in the bed, and just had to wait in anticipation until I could get some answers.


	33. Chapter 33

I sat in my dad's car for a moment just looking at Fox River. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous to go back in. What if they thought that I had blabbed their secret, and they tried to kill me? My father must have sensed my apprehension.

"Laney are you sure you are ready for this? We can make up an excuse so you can take more time."

I looked at my father. He meant what he said, but if I agreed to taking more time, then that would make me look weak in my father's eyes, and I sure as hell wasn't going to look weak. I just had to suck it up and go in. He handcuffed my hands together and escorted me into the building. Warden Pope and Officer Bellick were waiting inside the office. My dad led me into the office, and left me alone. Once again, I wasn't agent Collins, but the inmate Laney. I took a seat in the free chair.

"Laney, glad you see you are recovering nicely," said Pope sincerely.

He felt very guilty for what had happened to me during the riot. He visited me a few times during my stay in the hospital, and he said he would welcome me back to Fox River. I smiled and shook my head at him. For some reason, I figured that the conservation would not say this pleasant.

"We need to know what happened with Bob"? Bellick said matter of factly.

I still felt horribly terrible inside whenever I thought back to Bob. He had only been a few steps away from me when I tried to leave, and I felt like I could have saved him. And then I felt angry at Tbag for what he did. However, at the present moment, I wasn't prepared to answer Bellick's question. I couldn't just rat Tbag out without mentioning the entire escape and I wasn't ready to do that.

"I don't really know, I didn't see it happen. I just saw his body. I guess it would just be the fact that he was a CO," I lied.

My lying skills were improving the more I stayed here. Pope nodded his head like he understood completely, but Bellick didn't quite buy it. He didn't realize how much it hurt me to lie to him. I wanted nothing more than to watch Tbag burn for what he did, but I just couldn't yet. Pope let me know that if I found out anything from the other inmates, to come to him directly. Bellick went to escort me out to the yard.

I guess I should mention this fact. Since the riot incident, the majority of the guards now knew that I was working undercover. They were told to treat me no differently, but I knew it would be difficult for them. Bellick tried to get me to reveal some more information about Bob, but I didn't crack. He sighed in defeat and put me out in the yard. I prepared myself to face the inmates.

I wasn't even in the yard for two minutes before every inmate was staring at me. It immediately made feel self-conscious. I moved through the yard keeping my eyes on the ground. Apparently, I had been the talk of the town, or the prison, during my absence. I think they were mostly amazed that I survived my encounter with Tbag. Maybe when I got out of here I could make a T-shirt that said "I survived the Tbag".

I finally looked up and saw Michael, Sucre, and Abruzzi sitting on the bleachers talking. They stopped their conversation when they saw me. I started walking over there and spotted at my dad looking at me through the fence. Tears started forming in my eyes as I watched him. Abruzzi stood up to meet me. I decided I was going to do something drastic.

I ran and flew into Abruzzi's arms. He wasn't really prepared for it, but he returned the hug. I decided to do that for a few reasons. First of all, I probably wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for him. He saved my life, and this was my way of saying thank you. Second, I wanted to put on a good show for my father. When we broke apart from our hug, I noticed that my dad wasn't standing their anymore. I smiled to myself because I knew that I got the job done.

"Like I said before, we don't get into that room we are not getting out of here," spoke Michael.

I was kind of surprised about how forward Michael was about the escape with me standing right there. I guess it didn't really matter because I already knew about it.

"Glad to see you too Michael," I teased.

Sucre and Michael hopped off of the bleachers to smash me in a hug. I laughed and then pushed them off of me. All of us sat back down on the bleachers. Sucre commented on how I never looked better, and I gave him a nice punch in the arm. Abruzzi told Michael that he would get it done, whatever that meant, and we were interrupted.

"I'm feeling a little left out of the family meeting," said Tbag.

I went into a panic when I saw Tbag. I guess I wasn't as ready as I thought as I was. I immediately tried to hide myself behind Abruzzi.

"We were just talking about baseball," said Michael.

"Well, now that is something I know a lot about," countered Tbag.

"Too bad, conversation's over," joked Abruzzi.

With that Sucre, Michael, and Abruzzi got up off the bleachers and I quickly followed. I wanted to be as far away from Tbag as possible. We had made it to a safe distance and Tbag hadn't followed us.

"I have quite the singing voice," he called out.

We all knew that if we tried to exclude him from the escape he wouldn't hesitate to rat us out. Abruzzi didn't want to blow his chance at freedom, but let's face it. It was Tbag.

"He is not coming along!" warned Abruzzi.

Michael agreed and told us not to worry. He hinted that he would make sure that Tbag would go down for killing Bob, and then he would be out of the way. It made me feel better to know that Bob would receive some justice. Michael and the others walked away and were staring at the storage shed. I assumed that that was the room that Michael was referring that they had to get into. I didn't know why they would need to get into that room, but whatever floated their boat.

"We can burn it down," offered Abruzzi.

I looked at him like he was insane. He explained that if the place burned down then they would make PI clean it up, giving them like 5 or 6 hours to do so. I still didn't really understand why they would need to work in there, but the idea seemed to please Michael. I could tell he was already plotting on how he was going to get this accomplished.

"You know I think I am going to need a PI card," Tbag whispered in my ear.

I screamed and jumped back hitting the fence. Both Michael and Abruzzi tried to step in front of me, but they ended up bumping into each other. Tbag smiled at me and bit his lip. What a jerk! I still had nightmares at night of what he almost did to me. And he would probably do it again if he got the chance.

"It's on its way," mocked Abruzzi.

Tbag didn't buy it. He said that if he gets busted for killing Bob, then he would tell Bellick about the hole behind the toilet. He smiled satisfactorily. Abruzzi smiled back, and I had a feeling the animosity between those two was still growing.

"Laneykins will you accompany me on a stroll?" said Tbag.

I had to do a double take. I couldn't believe he just asked me that. I looked in his eyes for any sign of lust, anger, or mockery. I could find none.

"Alright," I whispered.

I think my answer shocked Tbag as well. I started to move forward to join him, but Abruzzi grabbed my wrist giving me a warning look. I shook my head at him telling him that I would be alright. He reluctantly released my wrist. I stepped forward in front of Tbag. He smacked Seth off of his pocket and turned to walk away. I followed him.

When I caught up to him he looked at me and offered me his pocket. I laughed.

"Would you stop asking me, I am not going to touch that filthy thing!"

He smiled and shoved it back into his pants. We walked for a few moments in silence, and I started to wonder why he asked me to join him on a walk in the first place. He spoke up eventually.

"Well I wanted to talk to you seeing as how we are going to spending some time together. I don't want you flinching like a chicken every time I come around."

I gave him an "are you serious?" look. The sad part about it was he was being completely serious. I sighed nodded my head, signaling him to go on.

"I wanted to apologize. I know things kind of got heated between us during the riot, but I just couldn't control myself. Can you really blame me; I mean you are just so perfect, sweet Laneykins."

I raised my eyebrows. This was the worst apology I had ever heard in my life. But, I guess in his own way that was a genuine Tbag apology. I guess it was better than nothing. He reached up and cupped my face, brushing his thumb over a small bruise on my cheek. I flinched at his touch.

"Your face is healing up quite nicely."

I reached up and grabbed his hand, pulling it away from my face.

"Look, I forgive you, but if we're going to make this work, then you can't do that." I said still holding his hand. "You don't want to give John any excuse to come after you."

"Right. The Mob Boss has seemed to take a liking to you hasn't he." Tbag said licking his lips.

"Yeah." I replied vaguely.

I didn't really know if I was lying or not, but Tbag seemed pleased with himself. We had almost made a complete circle around the yard and I could see Michael and Abruzzi eyeing me. Hopefully, this little conversation could ease the waters between Tbag and me. I went to walk away, but Tbag stopped me and opened his arms like he wanted a hug. I laughed out loud, and felt guilty for laughing at him, but I wasn't going to hug him. I offered him with what I thought was the next best thing. A high five. He looked disappointed, but accepted it none the less. I walked back over to Abruzzi and the guard announced that it was time for PI.


	34. Chapter 34

If you think about it I really shouldn't be doing any PI work. But the guards knew that I was undercover so they gave me their "permission". Abruzzi told me I just had to take it easy. He made me only carry one heavy bag instead of two. The bags were a ploy. They wanted to get into that shed so they could start the fire. I wasn't going to stop them, and starting the fire would make a good entry in my journal. Lincoln joined us and he gave me a welcome back hug. I never guessed Lincoln as a touchy feely kind of guy, but he gave the best hugs. They were warm and secure.

We carried the bags into the shed, and put them in their proper place like we were supposed to do. I noticed the sign on the door that said "no inmates beyond this point.", but the others didn't seem to care. Michael opened the door and was greeted with a shot gun pointing right as his face.

"What the hell are you cons doing here," shouted one of the guards.

I gasped at the gun pointing at Michael. Apparently that storage room had been changed to a break room. What a bunch of lazy ass guards. All they do is stand around all day, why do they need a break room? The guards softened their expression a little when they saw me, but the one never lowered his gun. We immediately started to leave.

"Won't happen again," called out Abruzzi.

Sucre stormed into another room and kicked a bucket over. Lincoln and he were shouting about how the hell they were supposed to do this with the bulls always around. It kind of made me smile because if they couldn't get into the break room, then maybe they would just abandon their whole escape plan and I wouldn't have to bust anyone. I actually almost fooled myself.

"Hey, hey check this out," said Abruzzi.

We all scurried over to the window to see none other than Westmoreland coming out the break room with dirty dishes. Oh no, did they have to drag the nice guy into their scheme? Again, the wheels in Michael's head began turning at seeing the new opportunity.

"How come the old man gets to go in and out of there?" asked Sucre.

"They trust him. You earn their trust, by having a clean record," explained Abruzzi.

"Pff, that counts all of us out," joked Sucre.

I had to laugh at their reactions right now. They were all whining like a bunch of babies because the guards liked Westmoreland more. Abruzzi looked over at me and smiled. He then acknowledged to Sucre and Lincoln that I was standing right there. They all looked back at me and smiled again. I figured out why they were looking at me and immediately started shaking my head.

"No absolutely not, I am not going to start the fire for you!"

Abruzzi walked over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. I wasn't sure if it was for intimidation or he was just trying to speak to me privately. I hoped it was the latter.

"Come on Bella, they would trust you. And that way to could contribute to the escape."

In a way I felt flattered that they wanted to include me in their escape, but I knew better than to fall for that. They could treat me like Tbag, tell me one thing and do another. Especially, if I was going to bust them for escaping, I didn't want my hands dirty.

"I don't want to escape," I said plainly.

They all looked at me like I was crazy. Like, who the hell wouldn't want to escape if given the chance? I realized that I would have to think of a good excuse.

"I have no reason to escape. I have nowhere to go, and what would I do with myself?"

They seemed satisfied with my answer, and didn't argue with me. They probably figured that it would be easier to escape with fewer people. Abruzzi looked upset that I didn't want to help him out, but he didn't say anything.

"We won't need Laney," said Michael, "we can bring Westmoreland on board."

With that Michael left the room to go find Westmoreland. We quickly followed, but let Michael talk to Charles alone. He looked really depressed and I asked Sucre what was bothering him. He explained that ever since the riot Charles couldn't find Marilyn. I didn't quite understand, he could just get a new cat, couldn't he? Sucre laughed and said that they weren't even supposed to have pets in the first place, but because Charles already had her they let him keep her. After this no more pets. I shook my head at Sucre. No wonder Charles never let that cat out of his sight. I looked back to where Michael was talking to Westmoreland and I saw him grab his knee. Maybe he had hurt himself in the riot? I don't really remember too many other inmates from that day. Michael had a disappointed look on his face when he separated from Westmoreland. I was assuming that he didn't agree to start the fire in the break room. I knew I always liked Charles from my first day here.

It was time to go back to our cells. I wasn't ready for this. Being in the hospital, I got a comfy bed, good food, a clean shower. Now I had to go back to the bunks, showers every other day, and junk to eat. I crashed onto the lower bunk and Abruzzi settled in on the top. I didn't expect it to still be there, but I found my journal still in its hiding place. I flipped it open to the first page and saw only one word written on it. I bit my lip trying to decide if I wanted to write in it while Abruzzi was above me, but I decided that it couldn't do any harm. Once I started writing, I couldn't stop. Everything that had happened since I first got here I had written in. There might have been things that didn't even matter, but I didn't want to miss a single detail. I had almost three pages worth of things by the time I was finished. Exhausted, I leaned against my pillow and stared at the bunk above me.

"How would you start a fire anyway?" I asked.

I heard some shuffling above me, and I wondered if Abruzzi had been asleep.

"Sucre said he could get some rubber cement that we could put in their coffee pot."

"Oh."

The whole idea of burning the place to the ground made me uncomfortable. I was afraid that someone may end up getting hurt. I finally let my exhaustion get the better of me and drifted off into sleep. I woke up to a lot of movement and rustling around. It wasn't coming from my cell though. I got up and walked over to the bars. The guards were going through each cell, tearing it apart, looking for anything that would assume they killed Bob. I wondered to myself how Tbag was going to get out of this one. I saw Bellick overseeing everything and he stopped by Westmoreland's cell. They were just chatting like they were old friends. In fact, they probably were.

"He is trying to get Westmoreland to snitch on who killed Bob," explained Abruzzi.

I didn't even turn to look at him.

"Do you think he will?"

"I doubt it. Oldie has been in the system way too long to be as naïve to snitch on Tbag. If he wants to live past tomorrow he will keep his mouth shut."

I gulped at the thought of someone killing someone as sweet as Westmoreland. I continued to watch and soon enough Bellick game storming through the cell. I guess Abruzzi was right and Westmoreland refused to tell him who killed Bob. I had to admire Charles. He just did his own thing in here and didn't break down for inmates or guards. Our cell doors opened and we were released into the yard. Abruzzi immediately sought out Michael and Sucre leaning against the fence. Michael was holding something, but I couldn't see what it was. As we got closer I recognized Marilyn in his arms. Westmoreland would be so happy when he had his best friend back. I had a feeling however that Michael had some ulterior motives.

"Are you trying to bribe Westmoreland into helping you?" I laughed.

"I'm not, you are," responded Michael.

He dropped Marilyn into my arms and pointed out where Westmoreland was sitting.

"Me? Why me?"

"I already tried once, and he didn't listen to me, so maybe he would listen to you," explained Michael.

Before I could protest any further, Abruzzi pushed me in the other direction towards Westmoreland. I started walking, but turned my head back to where they standing. I gave them a confused look and they only laughed at me. I thought about backing out, but Charles already saw me with his cat. It did make me smile to see his eyes light up. I gladly set Marilyn into his arms and he placed a kiss on top of her forehead.

"Where did you find her?" asked Westmoreland petting her on the forehead.

I took a seat. There was really no point in lying to him. If he wanted to help out then he would, and if he didn't then he wouldn't.

"Actually Michael is the one that found her. He just wanted er... me to bring her over."

Westmoreland smiled, understanding what was going on. They could be mad at me all they wanted to, but if they were going to complain about it then don't ask for my help. I told Charles that Michael really wanted his help, but the decision was totally up to him. He sighed and rubbed Marilyn behind her ears.

"It is not that I don't want to help. My record is spotless and I plan to keep it that way. If that parole date every shows its face, I want to be ready."

How was I supposed to respond to that? Come on, you could sacrifice your parole for a bunch of friends right? I wasn't going to make him risk his legal freedom to help out a bunch of people with their illegal one. I smiled and went to say goodbye.

"Tell Michael I really do appreciate what he did for me and Marilyn."

I smiled and nodded my head, then turned away. I could see Michael, Sucre, and Abruzzi giving me a hopeful look. I bit my lip, and prayed that they (by they I mean Abruzzi) wouldn't get upset. I stood in front of them and they gave me looks to tell them what had happened.

"Well, he says he really appreciates finding his cat," I stalled.

They raised their eyebrows at me that said they didn't appreciate my stalling. I couldn't bring myself to say anything so I dropped my head. I heard their sighs of frustration at my failure. I brought my eyes to meet theirs.

"Jesus Bella, we give you one job to do and you suck at it," scolded Abruzzi.

At first I dropped my eyes like a child in trouble. Wait, why was I being scolded, it wasn't my fault. I looked back up to argue, but I saw Abruzzi smiling at me. I rolled my eyes at him to let him know that he wasn't funny. Michael was still trying to figure out they were going to get into the beak room.

"Hey Laney the doc wants to see you," shouted one of the guards.

I gave a puzzled look and said goodbye to the others. I followed the guard into the prison and wondered what Sara wanted to see me about?


	35. Chapter 35

Here was something that was odd to me. Several of the guards now knew that I was working undercover, but Sara didn't. I went into her office and she gave me a slight smile, and gestured for me to sit down. I did as I told and we sat in silence for a few minutes. I knew she was trying to think of the right thing to say. Finally she turned to face me.

"Laney, how are you doing?"

I knew she was referring about how I was doing after the riot.

"I'm fine, I had to go to a real hospital for a few days, but everything was ok. How are you? I know you went through quite the ordeal."

She looked at me confused. Then I realized, how would I know anything about what happened to her. I was in one of the cells, remember. God I was an idiot. I suppose I could always tell her that I saw her being attacked, but decided to run away. I laughed in my head.

"I'm fine," she said coldly.

What a bitch. I was only showing concern. I suppressed my urge to say anything, but I really wanted to tell her off. So what that she was almost raped by a bunch of pigs, hell I almost was and I moved on. Plus I found out a deep dark secret that was really stressful. I sunk down my chair like a child.

"The reason I asked you here was so I could ask you about something you told me."

Oh shit, here we go.

"I told you what Pugnac was the other day and you mentioned one of its uses. About pretending to be a diabetic. What did you mean by that?"

I blinked several times. Now that I knew about the escape, I couldn't tell Sara that Michael was pretending to be diabetic just so he could up here. Hell, she would probably get all flattered and figure that Michael was lying just to see her.

"Oh, well my brother used to be a junkie and do that sort of thing, so I was just asking," I lied terribly.

"So it had nothing to do with any of the inmates here in Fox River?"

I shook my head innocently at her. She seemed to believe me, what a moron. She told me that I could go, and a guard took me back to Gen Pop. It was one of the guards that knew I was undercover so he let me go the last few steps on my own. On my way back to my cell, I noticed a group of people standing in front of someone else's cell. Oh great, now who got killed? I walked over there and looked through the bars. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but the dead cat on the bed wasn't it. Wait, dead cat! Someone killed Marilyn and left it for everyone to see. And to make matters worse, Westmoreland was headed this way. The other inmates cleared out, but I stayed leaning against the bars. I gave him a look of utter sympathy. He walked into his cell and his eyes fell on Marilyn. He gasped and immediately dropped down next to her.

"I'm so sorry," was all I could mutter.

He looked up at me with tears and his eyes, and it made me tear up. That had been his best friend for however long he has been in here. He picked the cat up and cradled it in his arms. He looked back up but was looking behind me. I turned around to see Bellick going through someone else's stuff. I watched as he looked back at Westmoreland. Well I should really say that Bellick glared at him. It sent a chill down my spine. For them being friends I thought that Bellick might show a little sympathy over the dead cat, but there was nothing short of hatred. I looked back to Westmoreland to see that same look on his face. I had never seen Westmoreland this upset so I took my exit.

I was trying to find Abruzzi, but I ran into someone else. Tbag was sitting on the bleachers and he signaled for me to come over. I sighed and made my way over there. He patted the seat next to him so I climbed the bleachers and plopped down.

"Laneykins, would you say that we are friends?" he asked.

I scoffed. The last friend I would ever think of having in this place would be Tbag, but I decided to humor him. I gave him my cutest smile I could come up with and he continued.

"I'm in quite a pickle. You see Bellick is starting to crack down harder and harder on this whole Bob incident, and sooner or later someone is going to crack. I'm afraid that with my priors and propensity to violence, that I will end up in the Shu for the rest of my life."

I honestly was at a loss for words. Did he expect sympathy from me? And the way he said propensity for violence was like he had just a bad habit like nail biting.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have killed Bob in the first place," I countered.

That might have been the wrong thing to say because he looked a little angry.

"I had no choice. I couldn't let Bob ruin my only chance of getting out of here."

Now I was starting to get angry. He didn't even know if Bob would have told anybody for sure. He just couldn't admit that he liked to kill people.

"How do you know that I won't snitch on your plan? Are you going to kill me too?"

Tbag considered this for a moment and then jumped off of the bleachers. He quickly walked the other direction. I watched him go with a confused look. This guy was without a doubt the craziest whack job I had ever met. Well, him or Haywire. I saw Abruzzi across the yard and he was getting ready for PI. I stood up and ran my fingers through my hair before going to join him.

It was a slow day for PI today. We just had to carry a bunch of stuff. Oh boy my favorite thing to do. I was doing my job just fine, but I noticed that Lincoln was slacking a little. That seemed a little unusual, so I suspected that something was wrong.

"Lincoln everything ok?" I asked walking over to him.

He looked at me for a moment trying to decide whether or not to tell me what was bothering him.

"I just talked to the Warden and he told me that my son's mother and her husband were murdered last night."

"What? I'm so sorry Linc. Do they have any suspects?"

"Yea, my son."

I looked at him, unsure what to say. If the police suspected his son, it was probably for good reason. Plus, it didn't help that his father was in prison for murder, so it gave his kid a predisposition to be a criminal.

"I think he is being set up by the same people who framed me," said Lincoln.

Now the conversation had turned awkward. I still wasn't completely convinced that Lincoln had been framed, but I didn't want to say that to him. I just shook my head that I agreed with him. I needed to go somewhere else before I said something bad. I started to do more work, but Michael said that he wanted to talk to me. I dropped my bag and followed Michael. I felt like miss popularity today.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your brother," I said breaking the silence.

He nodded his head, but continued walking.

"You know Laney, about what you said earlier. If you really wanted to go with us, you could come with Lincoln and me."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Was he serious? He would let me go with him and his brother after they escape. I couldn't help but smile at his offer. He returned the smile, but I realized he was waiting for an answer.

"It wouldn't be too many people trying to escape," I offered.

He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. I didn't know what to say. I decided that I would go along with the whole plan and act like I was going. That would give me some inside information on things that I could use against them.

"Alright, Michael if you want me to go so badly I will think about it," I teased.

He smiled and looked happy that I was thinking about going. I was going to walk away, but I saw Lincoln crouch down behind one of the buildings. He was looking at one of the trucks that pulled into the prison.

"Hey Michael what is your brother doing?"

Michael looked over towards Lincoln and the eyes bulged from his face. He quickly sprinted over to where Lincoln was. I watched as Lincoln started moving for the truck. Then I realized that he was trying to escape. Why would he try to run when Michael was going to all the effort for this escape? I guessed that it had something to do with his son, but Michael tackled Lincoln before he could get away. Lincoln struggled for a moment, but then listened to Michael talk. I had to admit that Michael had a way with words, and if anyone could convince Lincoln of anything it would be Michael.

One of the guards ran over and quickly broke up the little chat. I continued watching them for a moment, but I could swear that I smelled smoke. I followed the smoky scent until I saw black smoke coming from one of the buildings. I yelled out for the guard and Michael and Lincoln followed him to where I was standing. I saw the hopeful look in Michael's eyes when he realized that the break room was on fire. I can't believe it. Westmoreland actually set the break room on fire!


	36. Chapter 36

PI got dismissed while they attempted to put out the fire. I was walking a few steps behind Michael and I noticed Westmoreland walking. I didn't catch up to him, but I heard what he said to Michael.

"I didn't do it for you."

Never in my dreams would I imagine that Westmoreland would actually do it. I walked back to my cell and I saw Abruzzi already standing in it looking pleased. I'm sure he was pleased that his escape was back on. He found out that not only did Westmoreland set the room on fire, but he used one of Bellick's cigarettes to start it as retaliation for Marilyn.

"Who knew that Westmoreland could be such a badass," I admitted.

Abruzzi laughed and I gave him a grin. For some reason I couldn't feel angry at Westmoreland for what he had done. Sure, he was now implicated in their escape, but I doubted that I would rat him out. He was still a good guy, and if Bellick had really killed his cat then I didn't blame him. Speaking of Bellick, he came storming into Gen Pop with that Seth kid right behind him. He was giving a look that could kill and I followed to where he was glaring. My mouth dropped when I saw Tbag standing there. Did Seth rat out Tbag for killing Bob? I was a little surprised when I watched Bellick walk directly past Tbag and into another cell. He started searching on the bunk and pulled out something. I couldn't see what it was, but Bellick turned around and it made me shiver. No one should ever make that face. He was holding the picture of Bob's daughter that Tbag took. I was for sure that he was going to bust Tbag, but the guards quickly grabbed one of his friends. Immediately, that inmate started screaming and shouting that he was set up. Tbag was teasing him as he was dragged out of the room. I said a few choice words and turned to Abruzzi.

"I can't believe that that little weasel is going to get away with this," he spat.

I was two seconds from going over there and giving Tbag a piece of my mind, but Bellick said he wanted to meet with PI in the break room. I sighed and followed Abruzzi out of the cell. As we were walking I noticed Tbag leaning against the fence. I slipped away from the group and marched over to him.

"What the hell?" I seethed at him.

He looked at me with this fake innocence like he didn't know what I was talking about. That only made me angrier.

"Why would you set him up? He was your friend."

"My Laneykins, you see, he was supposed to be my friend. I asked him for a favor, but he wouldn't help me out. And if you think about, I didn't do anything. It was Seth over there that snitched."

I gave him a pathetic look and Abruzzi called for me to hurry up. I walked away from the fence, and Tbag seemed to realize where we were going. He quickly sped up to the rest of us.

"Hold up, I am pretty sure that I should be on this detail, John," he said.

John turned back to the guard and shook his head. I looked over at Tbag and he looked a mixture of pissed off and confused. He gave some smart ass comment that basically said he would rat us all out to the guards any time he could. We all stopped walking and faced Michael. The decision was ultimately up to him. He looked back to John and shook his head. I took in a breath and watch Tbag give a smirk of satisfaction. We had to wait a few more minutes for Tbag to get changed into his PI gear. Bellick was waiting for us in the now destroyed break room. He watched me walk into the room and lean against the table. The others filed in the room.

"From now on this room is your number one priority," demanded Bellick, "when you're done I want this room to be brand spanking new."

I laughed to myself at how big of ass he was being. I was tempted to tell him that he should clean it since he was the one that burnt it down. I suppressed that urge. He explained that we shouldn't get any ideas about sneaking in tools for weapons because they had an inventory and a count would be taken after every day. He said some more blah blah blah, and then the guards left us alone. Sucre moved to the door to keep watch and Michael got to work.

"Before we get started there was something that I wanted to do," said Tbag rubbing his chin, "ah yes."

Before I could even blink, Tbag had me by the throat and slammed me hard on the table. My lower back was killing me and I suppressed the urge to scream so the guards wouldn't come in. Lincoln and Abruzzi moved towards Tbag, but he pulled out a razor and held it to my throat. I lifted my hand so it was touching Tbag's hand.

"Now Laney I just want to make sure you understand that you won't be going off and telling anyone about this. Unless you want to end up like Bob," he sneered.

How dare he threaten me and make a remark about Bob! So much for the apology he said earlier. He could go straight to hell. I started to thrash about on the table, and Tbag had to place a hand on my hip to hold me in place. I was twisting my head so much that the razor cut into my skin making me bleed.

"I'm not going to say anything you jerk, now let me go," I whispered loudly.

He smiled and removed the blade from my throat, but his other hand lingered a little longer and grabbed my butt. Fighting the urge to vomit, I spit in Tbag's face. I raised my eyebrows at him, daring him to make a move. He spit at me back and pushed me off of the table. I landed on the floor face first. I tried to pull myself up, and Abruzzi lent me a helping hand. I looked at him like thanks for helping me and he pulled me close to his face. He whispered into my ear.

"Tbag is right Bella. If you snitch on our little plan, I will kill you myself."

I glared at him and felt like all the progress we had made just flew out of the window. I rejected his help and stood up on my own. I walked over and leaned against the wall. Michael moved the table and was staring at the drain in the floor. He said that this is where they would need to make a hole. Lincoln passed out the hammers to everyone and they gathered around the drain.

"Won't they hear the noise?" I suggested sarcastically.

They turned to look at me and realized that I had a point. Michael walked over and took something to cover the drain. I watched as they each took their turn smashing their hammer into the floor. They thought they were one step closer into making their escape. I smiled to myself because I had them all fooled. No one was going to stop me.


	37. Chapter 37

Shower time. I followed the guard into the locker room and he gave me a few minutes to change into my towel. I stripped down and looked all over my body. There were still cuts and bruises lingering, but nothing serious. My eyes followed all the way down to my lower back. It was nearly healed and the swelling had gone down. Now the only thing remaining were the words Bella imprinted. I quickly wrapped the towel around my body and stepped out.

As usual, I was waiting for all of the guys to finish their shower so I could take mine. I thought that maybe I would just take a peek to see what was going on. I blushed when I saw Michael standing underneath the shower. He had his back to me and my eyes were lingering on his tattoos. They told me that Michael had tattooed the blueprints of the prison onto his body. I guess what Haywire thought was right. I noticed that he wasn't alone. Seth approached him very timidly. I thought that the shower would be a weird place to talk to someone, but hey nothing surprised me anymore.

"Help me," he said frightened.

Poor Seth. The kid had been staying with Tbag for a while now, no wonder he was so scared. Michael looked up at him with sympathy for a moment, but a noise caught everyone's attention. Tbag was glaring at both the guys and started to approach them. I quickly turned my head around and hid behind the wall. There were some things in this world that I never wanted to see, and Tbag naked was one of them. Not much later, Seth came bolting into the locker room. He was shaking either because he was cold or terrified. I slowly approached him.

"Help me please," he whispered.

I rested my hand on his wet shoulder. I tried to tell him that everything would be all right, but I doubted that he believed me. I gave him a reassuring smile, and he attempted to return it. I turned around and saw Tbag watching us. He had his towel wrapped around his waist, and I defensively held onto mine tighter. Seth took off leaving me alone. Where was the guard when you needed one?

"Is there a reason you were talking to my boy?" he asked.

I tried to avoid looking at him, but he stepped forward making it nearly impossible. I looked up at his face and he was smiling at me.

"You have the poor kid scared to death," I said.

I was backed up against the wall and he put each hand on the side of my face resting against the wall.

"Why do you care about my affairs Laneykins? Unless of course you're jealous of the time I spend with Seth."

I rolled me eyes at him. He knew that wasn't the reason at all, he was just being an idiot. He looked up and down my body, and suddenly I became self-conscious. It probably had something to do with the fact that we were both naked, except for the towels. He moved one of his hands so that it was stroking my towel. I gripped on to it as hard as possible so it wouldn't fall down. I wanted to flinch away from Tbag's touch, but I didn't. Something glued me to that spot and my eyes never left Tbag's.

"Tbag back off!" shouted one of the guards.

He immediately let go of my towel and stepped back. He gave me one last smirk before disappearing. I looked to the guard who was giving me a confused look. He was probably wondering why I didn't try to fight Tbag off. I couldn't give him an answer so I stepped into the shower without saying a word.

After feeling as clean as I possibly could, I had to be escorted out for PI. I thought it was kind of ironic that just after getting clean, I had to go work and get dirty. I caught up with the other guys who were already working. I avoided eye contact with Tbag and decided to lean against the wall. They weren't really doing work, just making it look like it for the guards. Bellick came in to inspect the work we were doing. He saw me just watching everyone else, and I guess he needed to make himself look like a badass.

"Collins are you just going to sit around all day, or work," he spat.

I decided that I wanted to be a smartass back.

"Well sir, I just got out of the shower and don't want to get dirty."

He looked at me for a moment deciding what to do. Since, I wasn't really an inmate he was trying to think of the best way to handle the situation while still keeping his manhood.

"Well boys I wasn't aware that we had a princess in our midst. Maybe we should carry her around too so her precious feet don't touch the ground," he mocked.

He said it to try and humiliate me in front of the guys, but it didn't really work. I acted as though it did. I became all flustered and didn't respond. He smiled victoriously and left the room. The guys looked at me and I gave them a grin and rolled my eyes.

"What a dumb f***."

They all laughed and as soon as Sucre gave the signal got out the hammers to start digging. Lincoln looked like he was the most anxious to start digging. He grabbed the hammer and started pounding against the floor. I figured he would wear himself out at the pace he was going. He was hitting that drain over and over again. And it was loud, like really loud. Everyone was nervous that he would make the guards come in. Abruzzi made him stop for a moment, and I thought that Lincoln would hit John with the hammer.

"Lincoln calm down," soothed Michael.

"I can't Michael. LJ is out there somewhere and the warden won't let me find him. I need out of here!"

Everyone at once tried to calm Lincoln down, and he eventually did. They started working again, but realized the residue of the floor was starting to pile up. Michael said the guards would start to notice the pile up after a while.

"So dump a little every so often," I suggested.

They looked at me and considered the idea. So now every time we would go on break, everyone would take a handful of rocks and casually dump it in the yard. We made sure not to make it obvious, but just casually did it. I was sitting on the ground next to Michael up against the fence dropping off some of the rocks. Tbag had just finished his load and was heading our way. Oh joy. Michael pulled me to my feet and we watched a bus pull into the prison. It was like the bus that I rode to get here.

"Freshman," cooed Tbag stepping behind me.

He bit his lip and watched the new kids come off of the bus. I guess I shouldn't call them new kids because some of them were older guys. I did see one young guy get off the bus. He looked about my age and walked with a stupid swag about him. He wasn't that bad looking though. I watched him for a little bit, and hoped that these new inmates wouldn't cause me trouble.


	38. Chapter 38

All the inmates were filing inside. I was having a conversation with Michael and Sucre, but broke off to find Abruzzi. I hadn't talked to him recently, since he threatened me, and I needed to catch up. I stopped midway when I noticed Seth on one of the top cell rows. It confused me because he celled with Tbag on the bottom. I then noticed that he had sheets tied together and they were tied around his neck. I figured it out and tried to approach him quickly.

"Seth," I muttered, but it was too late.

He jumped and I screamed at seeing the sight. I lost consciousness shortly after. I woke up and a was lying on my bunk. I shot up immediately and looked around. Abruzzi was watching me. He moved over to me when I sat up.

"What happened?"

"You fainted right in front of Tbag's cell. I had to rescue you from him trying to take care of you," explained Abruzzi.

I shivered at the thought of being in Tbag's care, but Abruzzi didn't answer my question. I wanted to know about Seth. He was trying to figure out the best way to discuss it.

"He's gone Laney. There was nothing we could do."

A stray tear escaped from my eye. Why was I even crying? He was an inmate and I didn't even know him, but I still felt guilty. Abruzzi reached over and stroked the tear off of my face.

"He asked me for help," I whispered, "he needed help and I didn't do anything."

"What is it with you and Michael feeling guilty over the kid? It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's but Tbag's."

I shook my head, but I still felt guilty. I could have told the warden or one of the guards, but I didn't do anything. I let Tbag kill somebody else. Abruzzi could sense that I was still upset so he offered to take me outside for some fresh air. I shook my head, but told him to go ahead. He nodded and left me alone. I let a few more tears fall before someone else entered my cell.

"What's gotcha down, snowflake?" asked C-note.

He asked, but he already knew the answer. Most of the inmates were inside when it happened and they could hear my scream. He told me that everything would be ok, and it wasn't my fault, but I just tuned him out. I had a feeling he came in here to talk about something else.

"What does Bellick have you doing in that break room?" he asked.

His question threw me off guard, and I had to pause for a minute to make sure I answered carefully. I told him we just had to fix up the room since in burned down.

"So what is with everyone dumping these?" he held out one of the rocks from the floor.

C-note was dangerously close to making a discovery. If he kept digging around for answers, he was going to find some.

"It's just some left over debris from the construction," I lied.

"You're a terrible liar," he joked.

I smiled at him to confirm it. I may be a bad liar but that didn't mean I had to confess to him. He just laughed at me again and left the cell. I exhaled a giant breath that I had been holding. Tbag and Abruzzi would both kill me if C-note had figured out about the escape. I decided that before I did any more damage, I should go outside.

Most of the new inmates were outside. Some were true tough guys who were fitting in right away, some guys were acting tough, and some were just downright scared. I saw that cute one still strutting his stuff around the yard. It kind of made me laugh because he was acting how he thought inmates were supposed to act. The poor kid was going to get himself killed! Mistake number one how he was acting. Mistake number two was the fact that he was trying to be friend the black guys. They wouldn't accept him and the white guys would be mad at him for trying. I kept walking and moved right past Tbag and his followers. I heard him joking around.

"The kid is just a Tweener," he laughed.

I made my presence known and stormed away. He called after me but I just ignored him. He caught up to me.

"Laneykins did you get up on the wrong side of the bed," he teased.

I wanted to walk away, but he would only follow me. However, I was in no mood to talk to him after what happened with Seth.

"I do not want to talk to you," I spat.

I started walking again and he didn't follow me. I didn't even know where I wanted to go, just somewhere. I spotted Abruzzi dumping some more rocks across the yard. I started to approach him, but Bellick called out his name. I watched their conversation and John didn't look to happy. He stormed off and went immediately to the phones. I don't know who he was talking to, but I wouldn't want to be on the other line. I figured that I would talk to him about it later. We had to get back to work in the break room, and the guys were just hammering away. My mind kept drifting back to Seth. Why didn't I help him? What was it about Tbag that made me freeze up around him all the time? All Seth wanted was a friend he could talk to or to help him out, and he felt alone. I made him feel alone. I promised myself that I would not let another inmate end up like Seth.

Sucre came bolting into the room and told us one of the guards was coming. We barely had enough time to cover the hole before he came charging through.

"Get out cons," he demanded.

We questioned why he wanted us to leave, but he only yelled at us to get out. The guys did what they were told and were so angry and confused they didn't see the real reason. I laughed to myself as the guard told us to go around the corner and not move a muscle until he comes and gets us. We were all standing around the corner and the guys were nervous he knew something was up. I was tired of their whining.

"Guys do you want to know why he asked us to come out here?"

They all turned to look at me and they gathered around me. I took their attentiveness as a yes.

"You didn't see the secretary standing in the corner. I think they were meeting for some afternoon delight," I laughed.

They all looked at me like I was crazy. I told them that they didn't have to believe me, but I know what I saw. Sure enough, a few minutes later the guard and the secretary came sneakily out of the room. The guys looked in disbelief and I sang a little "I told you so" song. They stormed back into the break room, and saw that they did their thing on the table. One more scoot and they could have discovered the hole. Michael assessed that they needed to find something to cover up the hole with when they weren't digging. We all left the room, and Abruzzi had a visitor waiting for him. He looked nervous and I wondered if it had something to do with his phone conversation. I got separated from the rest of the guys in Gen Pop and was standing next to the entrance.

I saw that new kid walking around and he tried talking to another inmate. I don't know what he could have said, but the other guy didn't look to happy. I started to walk over there so I could save the kid from doing any more damage. The other guy didn't wait for me and punched the kid right in the arm. He fell and bashed his knee on the floor. I hurried over and stopped the guy from killing him right there. I knelt down onto both my knees and touched the kid on his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" I asked sweetly.

He was staring down at the floor holding his knee. When he looked up at me I gasped for breath. A surge of heat went through me and I felt my face flush. I immediately had to look down. When I looked back up he was still looking at me. More like he was staring at me for a moment. The initial shock of seeing a woman in a men's prison always took a few minutes. He then nodded his head at me. I helped him to his feet and he said he would walk me to my cell. I blushed again.

"I'm Laney by the way," I said trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"David Apolskis."

I smiled and said it was nice to meet him. We reached my cell and I took a seat on my bunk, but David continued to stand.

"I guess prison won't be so bad if they have sweet thangs in here like you," he said.

I stared at him for a minute trying to figure out if he just gave me a compliment. He smiled and told me he would see me around and left. I was left sitting on my bunk completely captivated by this stranger. I thought that I had an attraction to Michael, but nothing with Michael ever felt the way it did when I just made eye contact with David. It even pained me a little when he left. I laid back on my bunk and smiled. I couldn't wait for my next interaction with David Apolskis.


	39. Chapter 39

**A/N: Chapter 39 is up...holy cow! This has been my favorite chapter (for obvious reasons later) and I wish I could see your faces after you read it. Feedback is always appreciated and thanks to everyone for reading. Enjoy =)**

After a few moments of careful thought, I realized how stupid I had acted earlier. I couldn't be attracted to an inmate! I acted like a giddy child around him. If only my father could have seen me then. I can already hear the lecture. Luckily, Abruzzi came into the cell and was able to distract me from my thoughts. He didn't look happy at all though. I fought over whether I wanted to bring it up or not. I was curious as to what was going on, but I didn't want to piss him off. He looked angry enough where he could take it out on me. I decided to grow a pair and talk to him.

"Is everything ok?" I finally asked.

He looked at me for a moment and refused to answer. I probably should have dropped the subject there, but I didn't.

"We are cell mates you know. You can tell me anything. Sometimes talking things out can help," I added lamely.

He sighed and told me to scoot over on the bunk. I happily obliged proud of myself that I convinced him to talk to me. He ran his fingers through his hair before saying anything.

"I'm broke," he finally said.

Ok, not exactly what I was expecting. He was broke. I wanted to tell him to get over it, but I had a feeling he wouldn't like that very much. I nodded my head asking him to continue explaining.

"Philly has frozen all of my bank accounts because I can't get Fibonacci. He has snubbed me and put that fat bald loser in my place."

I laughed at thinking of Abruzzi's fat friend. It was hard to believe that that tub of lard could be in charge of anything besides a fast food restaurant.

"I'm going to go find that fish and cut off every toe and finger until he tells me where Fibonacci is."

Abruzzi stormed off and I quickly grabbed a hold of his hand. I was trying to hold him from going out there and killing Michael.

"He isn't going to tell you anything. Why don't we go outside and find your friend and just talk to him. It might not be as bad as you think."

He calmed down and agreed with me. Together we walked outside and found his group sitting on some of the bleachers. We approached them, but Abruzzi told me to stay back a little ways. He approached that fat dude and started yelling at him. That isn't exactly what I had in mind when I suggested the idea, but hey I guessed it worked. I turned around to see David sitting on one of the bleachers. My heart rate instantly started speeding up and my face felt hot. Damn it, what was it with this guy? He was just a regular guy in prison? Nothing special. I had to distract myself, so I moved closer to Abruzzi. The other guys must have thought this was some kind of ambush because they both jumped at me and held me back while some shoved Abruzzi away.

"I'm in charge now John, get used to it," said fatty.

They pushed Abruzzi backwards and threw me on the ground. What a bunch of jerks! Abruzzi moved over and helped me off of the ground. I think he blamed me for the conversation going badly. We walked over to one of the other tables, and both pouted while we were sitting there. I just couldn't help myself, I looked back over to where David was sitting. Instantly jealousy surged through me, as I saw he was talking to Tbag. Did I seriously just say that I was jealous of Tbag? Alright, this David guy was definitely going to cause me problems in here. I watched Tbag reach a hand down and place it on David's knee. I think I may have growled.

"Did you just growl Bella?" Abruzzi asked.

"What? Of course not." I said, turning my attention back to the bleachers.

To my happiness, David pushed away Tbag's hand and jumped down from the bleachers. He started yelling at Tbag, and it made me nervous.

Tbag stormed away from the bleachers and made his way over to us. I pretended like I wasn't watching them.

"That Tweener needs to be taught some manners. He has such a foul little mouth."

I looked at him like I had no idea what he was talking about. Abruzzi also listened in on the conversation.

"I was just trying to be nice and talk to him, but he called me a homo and said that if I touch him again he would kill me."

Abruzzi started to laugh and I couldn't suppress a smile. Tbag noticed my teasing at him and glared at me. He came in closer.

"You know I saw you talking to little Tweener the other day, and I swore you have a small crush."

My face instantly heated up and my mouth dropped. How was he watching us? By this point, Michael and Sucre had joined the table and everyone was waiting for a response.

"I don't have a crush on David, he needed a friend, and I was just being nice," I said.

Tbag saw straight through that.

"Really is that why every time you talk or look at him your face heats up like the fourth of July."

Our conversation had fully captured the attention of any one in listening range. I shook my head a few times to show that I had no feelings for David.

"Well then why don't you prove it. I dare you to go over there and give Tweener a kiss just to show us all that he means nothing."

I immediately refused the dare. There was no way in hell that I was going to kiss Tweener. No matter how much I wanted to. Tbag smiled winningly at me, and I felt humiliated.

"I'm sorry, I thought this was a prison, not Junior High." I said.

"Alright Laneykins, if you're a chicken that's okay." Tbag countered.

I rolled my eyes. This conversation was going nowhere, and I wasn't about to give in to Tbag's taunting.

"Aye mami, just do it." Sucre spoke up with a smile.

I gave Sucre a look that could kill, but soon the others started joining him. They repeated 'do it' over and over again in a low voice. I looked to Abruzzi but he raised his eyebrow and smiled at me, wanting to see if I would do it.

I knew I had to do this to show them that I didn't have feelings for David. I confidently stood up from the table and everyone watched me shocked. I walked over to the bleachers where David was sitting. I suddenly felt very nervous. Unfortunately, I couldn't back out now with all the guys watching me. I would never hear the end of it. David saw me coming and he smiled at me. I felt weak at the knees and didn't know if I would even make it to the bleachers.

"Hey Laney," he said smiling.

I didn't even say anything. I just approached him and pressed our lips together. At first I think I caught him off guard (obviously) and I didn't expect him to kiss me back. To my surprise, as I was about to pull away he grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me onto his lap and kissed me again. I lifted one of my hands so it was resting on his cheek. It felt like time had stopped and it was just going to be me and him like this forever. He eventually pulled away and we looked at each other for a moment. He gave me a grin and I got up and walked away just like that. My face was on fire when I approached the table, and I didn't even have to look at them to know that the guys were all laughing at me. I just walked right past them without a care in the world.


	40. Chapter 40

Did I really just kiss David? Who am I kidding, hell yes I kissed him and it was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I wanted to turn around and kiss him again. Everyone was headed back inside and Michael and Sucre snuck up behind me. Of course, they had to tease me about the entire thing, but hey they dared me to in the first place. I started going up the stairs and saw David come in behind me. I gave him a smile and he returned it. We were both extremely embarrassed that the entire prison watched us make out. We felt like two kids caught with our hands in the cookie jar. I was even getting suspicious looks from the guards.

Besides the kiss being so magical that nothing else seemed to matter, something positive also happened. We both got to piss of Tbag. He seemed furious that I took on his dare, but even more furious that David had returned the kiss. I think he wanted to humiliate the both of us and it backfired. I had a feeling that he wasn't going to take that and we would be dealing with him later. I found my cell and plopped down on my bed. What I really wanted was some peace and quiet. I wasn't going to get it.

"Well Bella, I didn't know you had it in you," teased Abruzzi.

I sat up and shot him a nasty glare.

"I only did it because Tbag dared me, and then the rest of you children started cheering him on."

"And how about when he kissed you back?"

For that I didn't have an answer. I hadn't even excepted him to even kiss me back, so it took me by surprise. Abruzzi took my silence as an answer.

"Tweener and Bella sitting in a tree," he started to sing.

"Stop! I don't have feelings for him, it is just…he is a really good kisser."

He only laughed and continued to sing in Italian. I thought this torture would never end. He finally gave up on his song and climbed onto his bunk. I was going to say something, but a guard interrupted me.

"Collins, you got a visitor."

I slowly climbed off my bunk and walked over out of the cell. Abruzzi sang one more soft lyric as I left. The whole walk down it was insult after insult. Most of the inmates were angry that I would kiss the Tweener kid and not them. I think even the guards were a little jealous. Why didn't it surprise me when I saw Melanie waiting for me in the visiting room? She always seemed to know when I had done something juicy.

"Melanie," I said happily hugging her.

She returned it and was glad to see me all right. We hadn't seen each other since I had been in the hospital, and it was wearing on her. She just seemed to be worried about me being back in here. I couldn't be angry at her for that.

"Just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing," she said sweetly.

I didn't really want to tell her what had happened today in the yard, but I didn't want to lie to her either. it was kind of big news.

"Melanie, I don't really know how to tell you this so I am just going to spit it out. I sort of kissed somebody in here."

Melanie's jaw dropped and I thought her eyes were going to bug out of her head. Then she squealed and everyone in the visitation room turned their attention to us. I yelled at her to be quiet.

"You kissed someone?"

Well actually, I had kissed two people in here, but Tbag's didn't really count, and I wasn't going to bring that up.

"Yes, but it was just a dare. It didn't really mean anything," I lied.

Melanie could always tell when I was lying and she raised her eyebrows. She was waiting for me to tell the truth, but I wasn't going to crack.

"Was it Michael?" she asked seductively.

"What? No it wasn't Michael. It was this new inmate. Like I said it was just a dare."

Just thinking about the kiss made my smile. I could feel my face getting hotter. She looked at me and I could tell that she could talk about this all day. Unfortunately, the visitations were only about an hour, and I was not going to talk about this for an hour.

"Michael was actually the reason I came down here," admitted Melanie.

Oh no. Now she was going to fall in love with Michael and help us out with the escape and we would all run off into the sunset. I watched way too many romantic movies.

"I was just curious on why he wanted to break out so I dug a little deeper for some information on him."

Now she captured my attention. Any more information I could use to work about this escape I was all ears.

"Well it turns out that Michael went to see a psychiatrist a while back. I tracked the guy down and talked to him about Michael. I made up some mumble jumble about it being part of an investigation."

I was rather impressed that Melanie would lie to the psychiatrist just for some information. Almost as it surprised me that Michael went to see a psychiatrist.

"The doctor had to say that Michael suffered from what he called Low Latent Inhibition. It is something that affects his brain and the information he receives. In stupid people it results in like psychosis, but because Michael has a high IQ, he is what is known as a creative genius."

I could see that. It would explain why he would tattoo the blueprints of the prison on his body. Only a creative genius could think of something like that.

"He also feels the need to help anyone and everyone," Melanie finished.

Everything was finally starting to make sense. He felt the need to help his innocent brother, and the only way he could think of was breaking him out. I agreed that he was either a genius, a loon, or both. Melanie questioned me on how the escape was actually going and what I was doing about it.

"They aren't even close to being ready to make the actual escape. Plus, we just hit a little snag not too long ago," I explained.

"We?"

"Oh did, I forget to mention that they think I am part of the escape? Oops," I offered a fake smile.

I had only seen Melanie angry a few times in our life, but nothing compared to the look she was giving me right now. I thought that she was going to strangle me right then and there.

"Laney has being roomed with a mobster lunatic made you crazy? Do you know what they would do to you if they found out what you were? With what you know?"

"Well, I am not actually going to escape with them. If my plan works out then they won't get that far, ok."

Poor Melanie looked like she really wanted to believe me. I remembered what she said about spilling my secret if it got too dangerous. I hoped she wasn't ready to blab on me.

"Laney, you have to be careful. I don't want to lose you."

I got up and embraced my best friend in a hug. I felt the tears starting to well up in my eyes but I fought them back. When we separated I cupped her face in my hands.

"I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me."

A single tear fell down her face and she hugged me one more time. The guards then escorted the inmates back to their cells for the night. I took one last look at Melanie before heading off.


	41. Chapter 41

I was alone in my cell. I didn't even know where Abruzzi was, or how he was able to be out of his cell, but I didn't care. I was extremely exhausted and wanted nothing more than sleep. Luckily, I was able to crash and sleep for a while.

_I was standing in a ballroom of some sort. I looked down. I was wearing a short red dress that went over one shoulder. They went perfectly with my red heels. My hair was put together neatly to the side and the curls were touching my shoulder. A crowd had gathered and everyone was having a good time. I watched as the conductor, John Abruzzi, gathered the band and they started to play. Different couples began to dance to the music. Michael Scofield walked over and asked Melanie for a dance. She blushed and reached out for his hand. _

_Before I knew it, I was heading out to the dance floor. I looked up to see David Apolskis leading me. I placed one hand on his shoulder, and he put his hand on my lower back. We glided around the floor spinning and turning with elegance. I felt as though everyone in the room was now watching us. He spun me in a circle a few times and pulled me close to him. I rested my head on his chest for a moment before our eyes met. He took his hand and gently brushed my cheek. I leaned forward and he gently pressed his lips to mine._

I woke up out of breath. I rolled onto my back and stared above me. I got up and splashed some water on my face and noticed that Abruzzi still wasn't in the cell. It was the middle of the night, where could he be? I was going to go back to bed, but I heard a noise.

"I'm coming," I heard someone singing.

I climbed out of my bed and walked over to the door. The voice sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place it.

"I'm coming for you. Oh I'm coming for you Tweener."

Tweener? Now I recognized the voice. Tbag was singing to scare David. He kept repeating those same lines over and over again. I looked around all the cells trying to find which one David was staying at. What little light there was played to my advantage and I found him sitting on the floor. That means he was awake and could hear everything Tbag was singing. I dropped down to my knees so I could get a better look at David.

I thought my heart stopped when I saw the tears roll down his face. I wrapped my hands around the bars and pressed my face as close to it. I wanted to be over there comforting David because Tbag was scaring the shit out of him. This is what Tbag had wanted all along. The truth was he was furious that David had stood up to him and threatened him. Tbag could always kill you physically, but what was worse was the torture he caused you mentally and emotionally. My thoughts immediately drifted to Seth and what that poor kid went through. I wouldn't let David end up like Seth because I didn't know if my heart could take losing him.

Tbag eventually stopped his singing and David was able to go back to sleep. I thought that I should try myself, but I didn't know if sleep would come. I was still confused on where Abruzzi was and how he was able to be out of his cell. I rolled onto my side and faced the wall. I could feel where my journal was hidden and I moved it around with my hand. I dropped it and nearly fell out of my bed when I heard a blood curdling scream. What the hell was going on tonight? The screaming continued for a while and I wrapped my pillow around my ears to drown the sound out. I had this strange feeling that this poor soul screaming was connected with Abruzzi being out of his cell. I would have to bug him about it later. The screaming finally stopped and I was so worn out from tonight that I had no problem going back to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, Abruzzi was sitting on the top of his bunk. I didn't even hear him come in. Wait, how did he even get back in? I sat up and was sitting Indian style in the middle of my bunk. I cleared my throat to let Abruzzi know that I was awake. When he still didn't respond I cleared my throat a little louder.

"Have a cold Bella?" he asked.

He couldn't see me roll my eyes. I was waiting for him to say something or ask me a question, but he said nothing. I was annoyed.

"So where were you last night," I accused sounding like a jealous girlfriend.

He hopped down off of his bunk and walked over to the sink. He thought I couldn't see him, but I watched as he rinsed the blood from his hands. Now I was afraid. I backed up against the wall, and wished I didn't even ask the question. He turned around and leaned over so we were at the same eye level. I didn't look away, but my breathing rate had sped up.

"I had to make a delivery. It was taking care of a problem," he said.

Ok, well that couldn't be any more cryptic. The part of taking care of a problem kind of scared me. That means he probably killed someone. Oh well, something else to write in the journal I suppose. I didn't badger any more details about it, and we made our way out of the cell. I wanted to go find David to make sure that he was all right. I didn't see him at breakfast so I was guessing he was out in the yard. My whole day got better when I found him. Unfortunately, I didn't find him first. Tbag and his crew were teasing and taunting him. I bit the inside of cheek trying to decide what to do. My mind was made up after David tried to leave and Tbag pulled his pants down. I stormed over there.

"T, why don't you knock it off?" I spat.

He looked at me with his wicked grin. I think he was hoping that I would have intervened. Way to go, Laney. I put my hands on my hips and stared him down. He wasn't going to scare me off that easily.

"I was just telling Tweener over here that nobody in this joint cares about him. He doesn't believe me."

Everyone's eyes, including David's, turned to me. They thought that David was referring to me as someone who cared about him. I did care about him so I don't understand what the problem was.

"You think she cares about you Tweener? The only reason she kissed you that day was because I dared her to. And she told me afterwards that she felt nothing."

My mouth dropped at what Tbag just said. Why was he doing this? He wanted to hurt me and David, and he was succeeding. David looked back at me waiting for me to say something, but I didn't. I just looked at him with apologetic eyes. He just shrugged it off and stormed the other way. He bumped into my shoulder went he passed me. I turned and watched him walk away and could feel the tears burning my eyes. I had only meant to protect David from getting hurt by Tbag, and I ended up hurting him.

"Don't worry Laneykins, you still have me," Tbag said in my ear.

I felt a sudden burst of rage and turned around and smacked Tbag across the face. That was a mistake. He lunged at me grabbing a handful of my hair. He had lifted me up off of the ground a little. I fought against him, and it seemed we were at a stalemate. We just glared into each other's eyes.

"You know I have been trying really hard to like you T, but you are making it impossible," I seethed.

He released my hair and set me back on the ground. I jerked away from him and stormed away. I was furious I needed to hit something. I wouldn't get the chance because the guards called for PI. I fell in line behind Michael and Sucre, and they could tell that I was pissed off. Tbag was behind me and he opened his big mouth.

"When I get out of here I can't wait to get me some tail. Right Laneykins?"

He walked passed me and planted a kiss on my cheek. That was it, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something to knock Tbag down a few steps. We stepped into the break room and the guys got to work. I slowly walked around the room I found a skinny pipe lying against the wall. I picked it up and ran my fingers over it a few times. I gripped the end of it firmly in my hands and bashed Tbag's knee with it a couple of times.

"You crazy bitch," he yelled out collapsing on the floor, "I'm going to sing about all of this now. BADGE."

The other guys looked at me like I was insane, and they were afraid Tbag was going to squeal on the whole thing. I wasn't breaking down though. I squatted down right in front of him resting on that pipe. He was looking at me menacingly.

"You wanna sing T, then sing. Let us all hear that voice of yours like last night."

I leaned in closer towards his face.

"But you know what I think?"

I leaned in so close that our noses were practically touching. I bit my lip and stuck out my tongue mocking him.

"I don't think you have the balls."

The guard appeared in the door right after I said that. I stood up and looked at the guard then looked back at Tbag smirking. He pulled himself onto his feet and looked at the guard. Everyone was waiting for what he had to say.

"Nothing boss, just thought we needed some more tools."

The guard shook his head at Tbag then left. Everyone then turned their eyes to me to see what I had planned next. Michael and Lincoln looked worried, but Sucre and Abruzzi looked like I was the most badass chick they have ever met.

"So here's what is going to happen," I said swinging the pipe back and forth, "you are going to leave David alone. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," he responded, "but just to be clear with you Laneykins, this isn't over."

I trembled inside a little bit at Tbag's threat, but I didn't let it show. Luckily, Bellick came in so I didn't have to respond.

"Abruzzi, outside now," he commanded.

Abruzzi looked nervous as he started walking, and I gave him a reassuring smile. He gave me a small smile back and left the room. What Michael didn't understand was when Bellick came into the room he was standing right where the hole should have been. Why didn't he fall through? Michael lifted back the sheet to find the employee of the month plaque resting on top of the hole. Bellick's smug face was staring at the rest of us. I looked over to Sucre who just winked at me. I laughed out loud.


	42. Chapter 42

After PI, we got released back into the yard. Abruzzi looked even more nervous than when he left the break room. I guess he was still having problems with his money. I was going to talk to him, but I spotted David sitting on the bleachers. I slowly started walking towards him. I don't think I have ever felt this nervous in my life, and I was working undercover in a prison. David saw me coming and quickly turned his head in the other direction.

"Can I talk to you?" I said sweetly.

He looked at me for a moment, and then made room for me next to him on the bleachers. I quickly took a seat next to him. Neither one of us said anything for a while, and I was trying to gain the courage to speak.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

He looked at me confused.

"Tbag did dare me to kiss you, but it wasn't like how he said it. I was embarrassed so I told him that the kiss meant nothing, but I lied.

David looked at me with interest when I told him that kiss meant something.

"He was just trying to come between us because that's what Tbag does. He wants us to be afraid of him."

David smiled at me and threw the basketball he was holding into my lap.

"It's ite," he responded.

I smiled and passed the basketball back to him. He was paying any attention to me anymore because he was watching Tbag slowly approach. We both tense up a little, but he didn't look as scary because he was limping. He stopped and was looking at both of us. David wasn't going to let him scare us anymore.

"Got something to say, Alice."

My eyes widened at first, but then I smiled. The joke was kind of stupid, but I think because David said it I thought it was funny. Tbag moved forward like he was going to say something, but stopped and looked at me. I raised my eyebrows at him to see what he was going to do. To my surprise, Tbag didn't say anything and kept on walking. I guess my threat had worked for the time being. David's face lit up and he jumped off of the bleachers.

"Yeah that's right you keep on walking. I pity that fool that tries to mess with David Apolskis."

Before he made Tbag change his mind, I pulled David back to the bleachers.

"All right cool it Mr. T, I think he gets the idea," I joked.

He laughed and sat back down on the bleachers.

"Mr. T, hey I kind of like that name and it goes with Tweener really well. Start calling me that."

I rolled my eyes and punched Tweener in the arm. He could be such a dork sometimes, but I found myself more and more attracted to him. I became nervous and looked at the fence behind me. What I saw shocked me and I ran over to the fence. Abruzzi, Michael, and Sucre joined me. We were watching a different group of guys with the PI uniforms heading for the break room.

"Bellick what's going on? I run PI so why don't I know about this?" asked Abruzzi.

"Not anymore John."

I saw the new head of PI. He was that fat guy that Abruzzi was telling me about. I noticed that he now had a patch over his eye like a pirate. Then it hit me. That was what Abruzzi was doing the night he was out of his cell. He did that to the guy's eye. One eye looked at us and gave us all a smirk.

"Collins you're still on PI, lets go," called out Bellick.

I looked shocked as I started heading for the break room. I had no idea what to do. I turned around to see the rest of the guys watching me, and I wondered if this would be the end of the escape.


	43. Chapter 43

I was starting to get into a routine at Fox River. The mornings were usually spent with Abruzzi doing various things. After that, we had PI where I would try to prevent the new guys from discovering the hole. In the yard, Michael and Abruzzi would grill me about what was happening during PI, or I would go and talk to Tweener. The evenings were spent in my cell with Abruzzi. He was becoming increasingly more stressed because of Philly. The entire mob had frozen him out because he wasn't able to get the location on Fibonacci. If the other guys discovered the hole in the break room, everything for him would be destroyed.

Abruzzi told me he tried to reason with Bellick about giving him back PI, but Bellick was counting on an extra paycheck from Philly. I thought that was kind of interesting so I put an extra note in my journal about dirty guards. Warden Pope explained to me that even though Abruzzi wasn't running PI anymore, the other members of the mob did and I still might be able to find out some useful information. During PI time, there was only one thing I could think of doing to keep the other guys from finding the hole. I sat on it. I mean I didn't literally sit on top of the hole, but the table that was covering it. I had this fake clipboard that I would pretend to use, and no one bothered me.

One day coming out of the break room, I noticed Michael and Abruzzi talking to each other on the other side of the fence. I made my way over there.

"How is everything going Laney," asked Michael.

I shrugged my shoulders and told him same old same old. They would eventually have to redo the floors, and then we would have some problems.

"If you give me the location of Fibonacci, Philly will give us anything we want. Like that room," Abruzzi said to Michael.

I could see that Michael was really struggling with this decision. He desperately wanted to get back into the break room so they could continue digging, but he didn't want to give up Fibonacci.

"Laney do you think you could try and convince them to let us help on PI?" asked Michael.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Well, I could always ask, but I am pretty sure he won't take John after what he did to his eye."

Abruzzi looked to the ground almost ashamed of what he had done. He just wasn't himself these days. The old Abruzzi would have been proud of what he had done. We were escorted back to our cells and I watched John pathetically pace back and forth. He was muttering to himself on how Philly wouldn't take him back unless he gave him Fibonacci.

"Why don't you do something about it?" I spat.

He turned around and glared at me.

"I thought you said that using violence to get what I wanted usually made things worse Bella?" he mocked in an angry voice.

"It does, but you're not doing anything. You are just like an old dog lying down and taking it. You used to be capable of cutting off a man's toes to get what you wanted, but now I don't know anymore."

Abruzzi quickly grabbed the back of my neck. He was staring daggers at me. Still holding the back of my neck, he threw me forward and I slammed into the bars. I fell to the ground and rubbed the back of my neck. He grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me back so I was looking up at him.

"Maybe you want to lose one of those pretty little eyes too, do you think I am capable of that? Or would you rather I cut off all your toes and fingers?"

He took one of his hands and stroked the area around my eye. I started to tremble. He let go of my hair and I fell back to the floor. I slowly crawled back onto my bunk and didn't move a muscle. I waited until I was sure that Abruzzi climbed back onto his own bunk before I exhaled. Even though my head hurt like a bitch, I was pretty confident that maybe Abruzzi got a little of his spark back.

The whole night I slept facing the wall. I woke up pretty early in the morning, but didn't make any noises. I heard Abruzzi hop off of his bunk and go over to wash his face. I tried to steady my breathing to make it seem like I was sleeping, but Abruzzi didn't buy it.

"Are you ready to apologize to me Bella?"

I didn't turn around to face him.

"Depends, are you going to stop feeling sorry for yourself?"

I probably shouldn't have said it, but I felt like it needed to be said. Abruzzi quickly grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me off of the bed and I landed on the floor. I fell on my stomach and I tried to push myself up, but Abruzzi put his foot down on my upper back. He leaned over and lifted up the bottom half of my shirt exposing my scars. He traced the word Bella with his fingers. I flinched at his touch but didn't try to move away.

"You keep making me angry Bella, and I might just have to redo my work again," he whispered.

"No, please," I muttered.

He stood up and removed his foot. He then grabbed me by the hand and pulled me to my feet. I couldn't look him in the eyes, and he didn't wait for me to. The bars opened and he was gone. I fell backwards onto my bunk and let a few tears escape, before regaining my composure. Luckily, Tweener came by the cell and asked if I wanted to go get breakfast, and I let him lead me away.


	44. Chapter 44

Michael, Lincoln, Sucre, and Tbag were all staring at me waiting for me to speak to one eye. I was too nervous to walk over there by myself, so Abruzzi agreed to go with me. Not that that made me feel any better. One eye was sitting at the head table where Abruzzi used to sit and was playing cards. I slowly approached him.

"Hey boss, um do you think you could hire on a few more for PI? We could use the help."

He turned around and stared at me. I really didn't like the look in his eye. He glared at Abruzzi, which was a sign to get lost. He turned around and left leaving me alone.

"Why should I hire your friends? What's in it for me," he scoffed.

"Well I just figured that since we are laying the carpet soon that we would need extra help."

"Alright, I will hire them on one condition."

One eye reached over and put his hand on my thigh. What a creep? The others around him started snorting and laughing. I turned back to look at Michael with a raised eyebrow. He knew that wasn't a good sign. I decided I wanted to have a little fun with one eye. I slowly moved my hand up and down his arm. He seemed to enjoy that. I gave him an innocent look.

"I'd rather share a cell with Tbag," I said sweetly.

I turned around and walked away with just enough time to see the shocked look on one eye's face. I laughed to myself. Abruzzi joined me and we walked back over to Michael.

"Sorry guys one eye gave me an offer that I had to refuse," I said.

They all looked at me and nodded their heads. They were going to have to find another way to get into the break room. Michael looked worried that the only way this would work would be to give up Fibonacci.

"John set up a meeting with Philly, we need to talk about Fibonacci," said Michael.

Abruzzi looked shocked and pleased at the same time. He was probably ready to get his power restored. I looked over to Michael to make sure he really wanted to do this, knowing what would happen to Fibonacci. I guess it came down to the life of Fibonacci or the life of his brother.

Speaking of Lincoln, he looked particularly down today. Every day was getting closer and closer to his execution day.

"Lincoln are you ok today?" I asked.

"The guards gave me a piece of paper today to tell them what I wanted for a last meal," he said solemnly.

To me that didn't sound that bad. You could request whatever ridiculous meal you wanted, and they gave it to you. I guess it was just the idea of a last meal that bothered Lincoln.

"I would ask for nachos, or pizza, or French toast, or…" I stopped when I realized how bad I sounded.

"Sorry."

They all just laughed at me. I saw Bellick standing alongside the fence, I told the guys I would see them later and approached the guard.

"I need to speak with my dad," I told him.

He looked at me for a moment and could tell that I was serious. He nodded his head and told me he would notify the warden. I guess the agent in me finally kicked in. Whether or not Michael revealed the location of Fibonacci, I could still warn the FBI and make sure he was protected. The tricky part was figuring out to warn my dad without giving everything else away. I didn't have much time to think about because we got called for PI duty.

Apparently, one eye did agree with me that we would need some extra help in the break room so he hired C-note. That made me a little on edge. Since C-note had discovered us trying to get rid of the rocks, I have been trying to avoid him. I didn't know how well I would be able to lie to him. So I got a little suspicious when he quickly volunteered to take something to the break room. I got even more suspicious when he didn't come out after ten minutes. I decided to go in and check to see if everything was ok. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw C-note staring directly down at the hole. He had discovered the escape.

"What are you doing?" I shouted.

He looked back over to me and smiled. Thankfully, he wasn't going to bust us because he covered up the hole. I feared that he wasn't going to bust us because he wanted in.

"I knew you guys were hiding something snowflake. I just never imagined it would be this huge."

I didn't even know what to say. Tbag was going to kill me if he found out that C-note was in on the escape. I didn't know if anyone would even come to my rescue or if they would just let Tbag kill me.

"Listen you can't say anything. Especially since Abruzzi isn't running PI anymore."

C-note looked at me confused.

"Why not, then the new PI crew can just go ahead with the escape. I guess your boys are out of luck."

I would have really liked to see how far one eye and his crew could get with the plan before they were caught, but it would screw everyone else over.

"Look if you promise not to say anything, I will promise to get you on PI once Abruzzi gets it back," I offered.

"When will Abruzzi be getting it back?"

"He's working on it."

C-note was unsure what to do, but he eventually promised that for right now he wouldn't say anything. I was now more determined than ever to get Abruzzi back into PI. I had to think of a way to get Michael to give up Fibonacci and keep him safe at the same time. I never thought I would actually say this, but I desperately need to meet with my father.

It took a couple of hours to get a hold of my dad. By that time, Abruzzi had called Philly and he would stop in as soon as he could. Abruzzi told me that he wanted me to go to the visitation with him and Michael. I just shrugged my shoulders and agreed. I would have just enough time to take each visit, and I started with my father. He kept up the act of caring father and gave me a hug and a kiss when I first arrived. Then it was down to business as he got out his notebook and pen.

"Alright, Laney what is happening?"

"Fibonacci." I responded.  
>He looked at me confused. No one was supposed to be able to locate Fibonacci so how would information be able to come through about him?<p>

"Dad, someone knows where he is and he is going to give it up today."

"That's not possible Laney. No one knows where he is.."

"Yes dad, he does, and we are meeting today with Philly Falzone to give him the information."

Dad looked at me with disbelief. Fibonacci is supposed to be testifying again shortly, and Philly's head is on the chopping block. I think he was finally starting to take it seriously.

"Tell me who it is that has this information. We will bring him in and find out how he discovered Fibonacci. Philly can't get to him."

"No, let me handle whatever is going on in here. You just make sure that Fibonacci is fully protected."

My dad looked like he wanted to protest a little more, but he held his tongue. He was going to have to learn that I could handle things in here on my own. This was my call; I was in the prison where everything was going down after all.

"Fine Laney, but if this goes badly, you will be the one to blame," my father said bluntly.

Thanks for the vote of confidence dad.

"Now why don't you tell me about this kiss?"

I looked back to my dad with wide eyes. How did he find out about my kiss with Tweener? Melanie. She just couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"It was nothing dad. I was dared to do it, and that's it," I lied.

"Laney now is not the time to be dealing with your girly childish infatuations. You have a job to do," my father scolded.

How dare he talk to me like I was a child! I was doing just fine here in Fox River. He thought I was just goofing around with all of the inmates. He sounded like such an idiot because what I knew was bigger than anything he could even dream of. I wanted to tell him just so I could rub it in his face. Wait, I needed to calm down before I blew everything. I was so angry that I almost spilled the biggest secret to my dad before I had a chance to do anything about it. I needed to leave.

"Good bye dad," I said blankly.

He got up to try and stop me, but I just kept on walking. Screw him. As long as he did what I said and watched Fibonacci, then everything would work out fine. I would show him, and he would feel so foolish, and it would make me feel great.

I didn't get much of a break before it was time to meet with Philly. Abruzzi was acting indifferent towards me, but I just attributed that to being nervous. I had to admit that I was a little nervous as well. John Abruzzi was one scary dude, but this guy I thought could be even scarier. If he could make Abruzzi nervous, then this was a guy that I wanted to stay clear from. Michael joined us in the visitation room, and the three of us joined Philly Falzone.

He didn't look scary by his physical appearance. He dressed very proper always in a business suit and tie. He was clean shaven and stood upright. It was the power he held that was scary. I hid behind Abruzzi not wanting this guy to see me. Philly greeted Abruzzi with a hug and a kiss on each cheek. I didn't understand the whole mob and kissing on the cheek thing. I sat down next to Abruzzi and Michael sat across from Philly.

"John I hope you didn't drag me down here to waste my time," said Philly menacingly. "If you did then I am going to have you castrated."

I looked at Abruzzi with fearful eyes. He flinched but didn't say anything.

"That was a joke John."

The three of us forced a smile. I wasn't just afraid of this guy. I was full out terrified. I wished I hadn't agreed to this meeting and I wanted to turn around and walk away.

"Alright kid, why don't we keep this short and you just tell me where Fibonacci is," said Philly.

That wasn't apart of Michael's plan though. He started off by telling everyone how he came to know Fibonacci's location. He was such a genius that he figured out which body guards he had and where they were stationed to protect. That helped him single in on Fibonacci's whereabouts. I had to admit how impressed I was that Michael could outsmart the witness protection program

"That is all just fine and dandy, but why don't you just go ahead and tell me where Fibonacci is," said Philly pounding his fist on the table.

"If you want Fibonacci then you will have to do something for me first," replied Michael.

I looked at Michael with disbelief. He was really challenging this guy who could probably have him killed. Philly looked like he couldn't believe it either.

"I plan on being out of here someday and I will need to money to help me disappear so I am asking for $200,000."

My mouth literally dropped when Michael said the amount of money. Was he trying to get us all killed?

"This guy is trying to extort me John," Philly mocked.

Abruzzi looked like he was going to rip Michael's throat out. I suddenly felt very nervous sitting next to him.

"Fish tell us where Fibonacci is now," demanded John.

Michael gave one of his stone cold looks and only shook his head. There was a slight smile on his face.

"Ok I didn't want to have to do this but..," said Abruzzi.

He grabbed the back of my head and slammed my face down on the table. I fought the urge to scream so the guards wouldn't come running over. He moved my hair so the back of my neck was showing. He started to trace the skin in the area.

"If you don't tell me right now where Fibonacci is, things won't be so pleasant for Laney. I noticed how guilty you felt over Seth's death, so I figured I could use it to my advantage. How guilty would you feel if something bad were to happen to her and there was something you could have done to prevent it?"

I looked at Michael with scared eyes. Surely he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to me? Michael clearly hadn't been anticipating this. He rubbed his hands over his head unsure for a moment.

"You better decide Michael," coaxed Philly.

My eyes pleaded with Michael one last time.

"Canada," he finally said.

Michael rattled off some address that Fibonacci was currently residing in. I breathed a sigh of relief and hoped that Abruzzi still wouldn't hurt me. He let go of my head and sat back up. He looked extremely relieved that he finally knew the location of Fibonacci.

"Get lost," Philly said referring to Michael.

Michael looked at me for a moment then left the table. Just great, I was left sitting alone with probably the two men that scared me the most.

"You did good John, consider the PI room yours again," said Philly.

They hugged and kissed on the cheek again, and Abruzzi lifted me up by the arm. Before we left Abruzzi leaned in towards Philly again.

"When you see that son of a bitch look him in the eye and tell him John Abruzzi says goodbye," he whispered.

He smiled and left the room. I followed quietly behind Abruzzi until we got back to our cells, but I needed to see Bellick. He took me back to his office, and I wrote a note on a piece of paper.

"Make sure my father gets this," I said handing him the note.

He took it and nodded his head. I really didn't care if he read it or not. As long as my father got that note in enough time, everything would be fine. I was back in my cell, and was pacing nervously. I kept thinking that they wouldn't be able to protect Fibonacci enough and somehow Philly would be able to get to him. I hoped that my father got that note, or we would all be screwed.


	45. Chapter 45

Hopefully today was my last day of PI with one eye. He was kind of treating me like crap since I spurned his advances. He was getting even by making me do the hard work. Right now I making like a thousand trips back and forth to carrying the damn carpeting. The guys were on the other side of the fence watching me nervously. They knew that their time was running out to get back into the break room. Philly needed to come through soon.

Lucky for me on like my fourth trip back Tbag was walking alongside the fence, keeping in step with me.

"I heard something interesting the other day, Laneykins," he said.

I rolled my eyes. Here we go.

"It seems that when ole one eye over there offered to uh keep you company, you gave him an excuse."

Oh boy. When I had said that I would rather share a cell with Tbag, I didn't really mean it. I just was angry and embarrassed over one eye.

"You can share a cell with me any day angel," he mocked.

I thought that I was going to be sick. The thought of sharing a cell with Tbag and what it entails made me physically ill.

"I wasn't serious, T, God stop being creepy," I laughed.

"Well I was curious on why it is that you said my name as to whom you would like to share a cell with. Why not someone like Tweener?"

"Because it had to be someone that I thought was more disgusting than one eye," I said without thinking.

I looked over to Tbag, afraid that he was going to be angry, but he was only smiling. I gave him a smile back then walked away. I figured it was better to leave things on good terms, than do something to piss him off. I noticed right before I reached the break room that Abruzzi was talking on the phone. I wondered if it was about Philly, but I wouldn't get the chance to ask him because one eye was yelling at me. I rolled my eyes and dropped the carpet right in front of his feet.

C-note had been staring at me like the entire time, and I'm sure he was antsy about the hole. I was hoping he would just forget about the whole thing, but who was I kidding?

"You're running out of time snowflake," he said quietly.

"Still working on it," I responded.

He smiled and shook his head like that wasn't going to be good enough. Michael would kill me if I blew it when we were so close to getting the break room back. Then Abruzzi and Tbag would kill me again. I decided that I would speak to Michael after PI was over.

After a few more demands from one eye, and being badgered by C-note, PI was finally over. I hurried into Gen Pop and found Michael's cell. He was sitting on his bunk just reading a book and looking all calm. I barged on in.

"Michael have you heard any news yet?"

He looked up at me and smiled. He knew exactly what I was talking about. Sadly, he hadn't heard anything yet. I huffed and told Michael to scoot over. He did and I rested on his bunk. I became nervous and I wondered if there was a mistake and that my dad didn't get the note. I started freaking myself out that the whole thing went to shit, and I would get the blame for it. I was in my own thoughts, so I barely noticed when Abruzzi came in. He didn't look very pleased.

"I got a phone call today. It turns out that the FBI arrested Philly and some other guys on international gun charges."

I looked to Michael and he didn't look fazed. We turned to Abruzzi to let him continue.

"And it turns out that Fibonacci wasn't really in Canada."

"How do you feel about that John?" asked Michael.

He walked over to the bunk and rested his hands on the top. He looked down at us and cocked his head to the side.

"Pretty damn good."

All three of us started laughing simultaneously. Our plan had worked out perfectly. I should back up and explain a few things. First off, a while back Michael had planned out to fool Philly into thinking Fibonacci was somewhere else. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make sure my dad and the FBI were in the same place. The note I gave Bellick was the address Michael gave Philly. I guess he received it. The three of us also came up with the idea that it would be more believable if Michael was giving up the location to protect me. So the whole thing with Abruzzi slamming my face onto the table was an act.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment, I got up to follow Abruzzi back to our cell. He stopped and looked towards Michael.

"When we get out of here, you are going to give me Fibonacci right?"

Michael only smirked and we left the cell. We were walking along the row weaving through inmates trying to get to our cell.

"You are quite the actress Bella," Abruzzi complimented.

If he only knew. I had him and everyone fooled in here. But I just said thanks and acted all sheepish. This day was only getting better. If everything worked out Abruzzi would get PI back, they could get back to the escape, and I could screw them all over. Perfect.

"And the way Michael jumped out to help you, I wonder if he would do the same if your life was really in danger?" Abruzzi wondered.

I listened to his words and hoped, no more like prayed that Michael really was planning on giving up Fibonacci. It sounded like my life depended on it.

There was one more thing Abruzzi wanted to do before PI. He told me about it, and nothing would thrill me more than to watch it. We walked together over to his old table. They didn't even see us coming. He stood directly behind one eye.

"Take a walk," he commanded.

One eye immediately stood up and turned around like a loyal puppy. I smirked at him and waved goodbye. I was such a bitch. He walked away and Abruzzi and I sat down at the table. He took out his deck of cards and started dealing them out. I really didn't like these mob guys. They changed their loyalties so easily, and it kind of pissed me off. Abruzzi seemed happy though that he was back in power. They were playing some card game that I didn't know how to play so I turned my attention elsewhere. I saw Michael and Westmoreland playing checkers. That was my kind of game, and I wished I was over there. I thought about getting up and walking over there, but my heart stopped when C-note beat me to it.

He shooed Westmoreland away and began talking to Michael. I think I started to sweat. C-note was going to rat me out, and everyone would hurt me. I let out the biggest sigh when C-note got up and walked back away. Michael didn't look angry so for the time being I was safe. I tried to say something to Abruzzi about C-note being on PI, but Abruzzi immediately said no and wasn't in the mood to argue. I would have to think of something and soon because we were called to PI.

The guys were absolutely thrilled to be back working in the break room. It made me smile to see how happy they all were. Especially Lincoln. He told me that he decided to put something for his last meal. Blueberry pancakes. I had a feeling there was a story to go behind that, but I didn't ask. Now wasn't the place. We stopped working when Tbag knocked on the door and announced that Bellick was coming. Everyone calmly covered up the hole. My heart stopped again when C-note followed behind Bellick.

"He says he is supposed to be on this detail," explained Bellick.

I ran my fingers through my hair. This could not be happening.

"I don't think so," said Abruzzi.

Bellick tried to push C-note out of the break room, but he side stepped him. As he walked closer to Michael, he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me along with him. He stopped and was standing right on top of the hole tapping his foot on it. I couldn't look anyone in the eye. I was just staring on the ground.

"Now are you sure you can't use my help? Laney here said that you could use my carpeting skills."

I stole a glance towards Michael. He was holding his hands on his head. Abruzzi looked like he wanted to strangle me. I was dead. Thanks C-note.

"My bad. Put him on boss," replied Abruzzi.

Bellick agreed and left the room. C-note released my waist, but I stayed standing where I was. All of the guys were staring at me. Abruzzi started to approach me very slowly. I did what any normal person would do in this situation. I ran.

I didn't get very far because I ran smack dab into Tbag. He held my wrists and was giving me a look that could kill. I tried to tell him that I didn't do anything, but I was rewarded with a smack across the face. I let out a squeak as he drug me back to the room. He held me against his chest and I heard a voice behind me.

"Guess I am going to have to redo those wounds after all Bella."

I fought with all my might against Tbag's hold, but he wasn't letting up. I could feel the bottom of my shirt starting to rise. My question was why wasn't Michael or Lincoln coming to help me? Were they just as mad at me too?

"Please.. please don't. I didn't say anything."

Needless to say they didn't believe me. I was waiting for the pain, but it never came. I wondered what was happening. I turned my head to the side to see what was going on, and I saw C-note gripping his hand on Abruzzi's shoulder.

"She didn't tell me. I figured it out on my own. She caught me when I found the hole. She did tell me though that I could be on PI," he said coming to my rescue.

Abruzzi backed off and Tbag threw me to the floor. They still weren't happy with me that C-note was in on the plan. One more person in on the escape meant one more way that this could go horribly wrong. I watched as they let C-note help with the digging, thinking that I had one more person that I was going to get to take down.


	46. Chapter 46

The more time I spent with Tweener, the more I liked him. We usually just hung out in his cell or goofed off outside. He wouldn't give me many details, but I know that he was really good at stealing stuff. Like really good. He made me laugh all the time. The only times that I didn't get to choose to be with him were in the evenings and during PI. A lot of time during PI, though, I found myself thinking of him.

"Bella, I think you should take a turn to dig," said Abruzzi.

So far I hadn't really had to do much manual labor, but Abruzzi was still angry with me for C-note being able to join in the escape. I guess that I agreed and they lowered me into the hole. Once they handed me a shovel I started to dig. If I really thought about it, Michael did the least work, and this whole thing was his idea. I dug for what I felt like was an eternity. I was pretty much worn out. I looked to Abruzzi pleadingly to switch with me.

"Sergeant Sodomy why don't you switch with Laney and dig for a while," he said.

I laughed to myself as Tbag walked over to the hole. He extended his hand to help me out of the hole. I took it and he pulled me out. Of course he was Tbag, he pulled me in a little too close and I was resting against his chest. I looked up at him with raised eyebrows. He only smiled down at me and released me. I walked over to get a drink of water.

"This room is starting to get a little too dark for me to dig," complained Tbag.

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes because Tbag was referring to C-note. He wasn't happy either that C-note was now a part of the escape. Whereas Abruzzi didn't want more people, Tbag was just a racist.

"Oh I'm surprised that you finally found a hole that you didn't want to get in," said C-note.

I laughed out loud, but Tbag didn't think it was too funny. He stormed up right in C-note's face. They started pushing each other. I walked over before they made the guards come in. I grabbed Tbag by his elbow.

"Would you just dig please?" I asked.

He turned to look at me then hopped down in the hole. I shook my head at him and returned to get a drink. Michael was leaning against the wall and Sucre came running in that a badge was coming. We covered up the hole and waited for the guard to come in.

"Let's go Scofield; it's time for your conjugal. Your wife is waiting."

I spit the water right out of my mouth. I didn't know Michael even had a wife. He never had mentioned he even had a wife, and she had never visited before. Even though everyone else was shocked, even Lincoln, Michael just looked like normal. He even looked like he was expecting it. He calmly got up and left the room. After he left, all hell broke loose.

"Michael gets to go f*** his wife while we are in here doing the work," shouted Tbag.

The other guys started shouting in agreement. Abruzzi and I were trying to get everyone to calm down so the guards wouldn't come in.

"Who made you the boss Abruzzi?" hissed C-note.

That was kind of a stupid question considering Abruzzi was the one who got us all on PI in the first place. I moved to stand behind him.

"I just manage everything in here. So I have to make sure that everything runs smoothly."

"Well, if you're not careful, there could be a strike on your hands," threatened C-note.

Abruzzi only laughed and ordered everyone to get back to work. Tbag threw the shovel on the ground and stood in the hole refusing to work. Abruzzi started to get up, but I said I would take care of it. I walked over to the hole and sat down on the ground so I was eye level with Tbag.

"Why are you being so difficult today? What will it take for you to just dig?"

He smirked at me and bit his lip. I rolled my eyes. If he was going to ask what I thought he would ask, then the answer would most definitely be no.

"I want you to sing," he said.

He wanted me to sing? Tbag began bellowing Swing Low Sweet Chariot. My face instantly got red and hot. I didn't want to sing in front of everybody. He kept singing and was looking at me waiting for me to join in. I sucked in my cheeks and faced what I was about to do.

"Coming forth to carry me home," I sang out.

Everyone stopped working and turned to look at me. Not because I was bad, quite the opposite, I was really good. Melanie and I used to practice all the time because we said that we would try out for American Idol. I blushed again and my eyes went to the floor. Tbag took his hand and brought my face to look at his.

"Now how can a beautiful voice like that make me break my promise and not work."

He picked up the shovel and started to dig. I smiled very proud of myself. Unfortunately that didn't last long. Tbag started singing again and looked to C-note.

"Wanna chime in? I thought you were a musical people," he said.

"Your parents must be so proud of the trailer trash you turned out to be," said C-note.

Tbag put the shovel down again. He rested his hands on the edge of the hole.

"Why am I the one that is made out to be the bad guy? It's not like the rest of you guys are in here for stealing girl scout cookies."

"But none of them killed the girl scouts doing so," I countered.

He looked back and winked at me. Sucre came back in the room and told us Michael was coming back from his conjugal. That was speedy. All eyes were on him when he came back through the door.

"Poor fish, what a rough day," scoffed C-note, "while everyone else is working away, you get to go in and have some girl bang you."

"The man has a point," said Tbag.

"Shut up Tbag!" Everyone shouted.

Michael walked into the room and sat on a bucket. He had yet to say anything yet.

"I think what everyone is trying to say here is why we are in here working, what are you doing?" asked Abruzzi.

Michael laughed and pulled something out of his pocket. He was twirling it between his fingers. My mouth dropped open at the sight. It was a credit card.

"I'm going shopping," he said.


	47. Chapter 47

It wasn't really a credit card. Michael had somehow managed to get a security key of the prison, and he disguised it as a credit card. He needed something from his box of personal items, and that was what he needed the key for. He was going in tonight to get it. The guys dug a little while longer, but eventually PI was over. We had just a few minutes to ourselves in the cells so I went to see my favorite person. Tweener was writing in some notebook sitting on his bunk. He immediately put it away when he saw me standing there.

"Hello there gorgeous," he said.

I smiled and moved over to him. He moved to the edge of the bed and I sat down next to him. He reached his hand up and brushed the side of my cheek where Tbag had smacked me. He had asked me what had happened, but I didn't want to get him involved. I think he already knew.

"Did you have fun in PI?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, it was just a blast. I had to sing for Tbag," I admitted.

He looked at me intrigued. I had never really told anyone about my singing so it usually surprised them when they found out.

"You sing? Let me hear it, go on."

I laughed and shook my head teasingly at him. He got frustrated and poked me several times in the side. I laughed again and grabbed his hands so he would stop. Our faces were so close together that our noses were practically touching. He leaned in and kissed me lightly on the forehead before pulling away.

"I sing a little myself," he admitted.

Now I was the one that looked intrigued. He definitely didn't look like the singing type. I asked him to explain in a little more detail.

"Well I sort of write and sing my own raps."

Now that sounded more like Tweener. Of course, he liked to rap. The gangster side of him was so funny I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"When you rap for me I will sing for you," I offered.

He said it was a deal and that about wrapped up our free cell time. He told me goodnight and I left his cell. I entered my own cell and Abruzzi was giving me a strange look.

"Can I help you?" I said rudely.

He only smirked at me.

"You have been spending a lot of time with Tweener ever since the kiss. I thought it didn't mean anything Bella?"

I bit my lip. I knew this conversation was long overdue. I looked up at him, and he only laughed at me again.

"Maybe I wasn't totally being honest when I said the kiss meant nothing," I admitted shyly.

"Really?" he joked.

"I couldn't help it he is a really good kisser," I teased back.

I was in no way lying about that last part. Tweener was a really good kisser. He knew exactly what to do and when to do it.

"Alright that's enough, too much information," scolded Abruzzi.

Now it was my turn to laugh. I loved making Abruzzi uncomfortable. He always got this really funny look on his face and got really fidgety. I walked over and flopped down on my bunk.

"Hey John don't you ever shave?" I asked.

I was completely serious. He hadn't shaved in a while and it became really noticeable. He practically had a full beard already. I didn't like facial hair much.

"What?" he asked annoyed.

"Well I just mean that you haven't shaved in a while and you are looking a little scruffy."

I almost regretted calling him scruffy. It was kind of harsh and I didn't want to make him angry with me. He only laughed.

"Does scruffy make me look bad Bella?"

"You just look better clean shaven."

He didn't respond after that so I assumed the conversation was over. I reached under and pulled out my journal. I dated it and wrote down the activities that the guys did in the break room. Hopefully, something would change soon and I could take more drastic measures, but for right now I was happy just being a spy. I fell asleep shortly after thinking about how Michael did with his credit card adventure.

I decided to take a morning stroll with Michael. We walked along the fence, but he didn't seem too happy. He explained that when he went through his belongings, some of it went missing. Of course, it had to be one of the things he needed to continue the escape. I wondered why the things went missing in the first place? We were joined by Westmoreland who had exciting news to share.

"I got me a new cell mate today, and he is already driving me crazy. He has got quick hands, but an even quicker mouth."

At precisely that moment, a pair of strong arms wrapped around my shoulders. I turned around to see none other than Tweener giving me a warm hug.

"Speak of the devil," said Westmoreland.

I couldn't believe that they were cell mates. Tweener and Westmoreland were like my two favorite people in this place.

"What's happening pops," said Tweener.

Tweener walked alongside of me, but he turned his attention to Michael.

"You work in the PI too, right? Do you think you could hook a brother up? I need to make some cashish."

I laughed at Tweener's interesting choice of words, and secretly hoped that Michael would put him on PI. But at the same time I wanted him to say no because I didn't want him involved with the escape.

"Well we only make 19 cents an hour, but we are all full at the present moment."

"19 cents? That's slavery yo. Alright, well if anything opens up keep me in my mind. I would love to spend some more time with the hottest inmate in here."

I could feel myself blushing and I punched Tweener in the arm. He smiled at me and walked away. Michael looked like he was deep in thought, but he turned to face Westmoreland.

"Have you heard of stuff being stolen from personals?" he asked.

Westmoreland only shook his head. I don't think he really wanted to know what Michael was up to anymore.

"Of course, but by the time you realize that stuff is gone it is too late."

I shook my head in disbelief. The only way that stuff could get stolen would if the guards took it. Surely the guards wouldn't steal the stuff?

"Have you seen a guard with a gold watch?" Asked Michael.

A gold watch? Michael needed a watch for the escape. Couldn't he just ask another inmate to get him a gold watch? Knowing Michael, nothing was as it seems, and there was something special about this watch.

"Word is that Officer Geary is the worst thief in this place. If I had to guess a place to start, it would be with him," suggested Westmoreland.

Michael nodded his head, and I knew that he probably wouldn't sleep until he figured out who took his watch.

"Westmoreland, the warden wants talk to you now," shouted one of the guards.

Charles shook his head and said goodbye to Michael and me. Luckily for Michael, he wouldn't have to look long for his missing watch. Right on cue officer Geary came strolling through the yard. And Michael and I were both looking at the gold watch he was wearing on his wrist. I can't believe that the idiot would steal the watch in the first place, but then he would wear it around the prison where anyone could see it.

"You have got to be kidding me," I said.

Michael smirked and I could see the wheels turning in his head to try and get that watch back.

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

He only looked at me and smirked. I wasn't even going to try and understand what went through his head. We headed back inside for a 15 minute break in the cells. Of course, I had to find Tweener. He was writing in that notebook of his again.

"What are you always writing in that thing?"

He looked up quickly at me and shut his notebook. I gave him a look that said he didn't have to hide anything from me.

"I write my raps in this notebook," he admitted.

I squealed and ran over to his bunk and sat down. I begged him to sing a rap for me, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and he broke down. He took a deep breath and opened his notebook.

"Inside these walls I creep and I crawl, just looking for a way out. But I know there is no easy route, there'll be a 12 round bout."

I waited for him to continue but he never did. I looked at him confused, and he returned it with a confused expression.

"I'm stuck after that," he admitted.

I played his lyric back over again in my head for a minute. I could tell that he was trying to write a song that related to his time here in prison. I thought about my time in prison and I thought of one thing.

"I got Bellick and Tbag on my mind and everything is.." I offered.

He looked at me for a moment then smiled. He wrote it down in his notebook and shut it. He moved next to me on the bunk.

"We make a pretty good music team," he joked.

"I had a dream about you the other night," I smiled.

He looked at me like I told him the cure for cancer. He put his chin in his hands.

"Do tell."

I told him about in our dream we were both dressed up very nicely, and he took me dancing. He smiled at the part where we went dancing, and I thought I could see him contemplating something. I didn't get the chance to ask him.

"Hey Tweener," said Michael.

We both looked over at Michel standing in the doorway. I was a little surprised that he was addressing Tweener and not me, but Tweener looked absolutely delighted.

"You still looking into getting some PI time?" he asked.

Tweener immediately shot off the bunk and I don't think I have ever seen him happier. I got up slowly after him and stood behind him.

"Is Laney the hottest chick up in this place? Hell yes she is, and hell yes I do!"

I choked back a laugh at Tweener's statement. It was flattering and embarrassing at the same time. Michael said that he needed a favor from Tweener first.

"I need you to swipe a watch for me," he said.

I wanted to protest against this favor. I didn't want Tweener involved with anything that had to do with the escape. Plus, if he got on PI duty, then he would probably be let in on the escape.

"What kind of a watch are we talking about?" Tweener asked.

"It's 2003 butterfly clasp," said Michael confidently.

I looked between the two like they were talking gibberish. I really didn't understand what it mattered the year or kind of watch it was, but apparently it did.

"A butterfly clasp means there is no way I can slip it off without the person knowing. I guess that means I am going to have to get whimsical on this bitch."

Tweener gave Michael a high five and looked absolutely thrilled that he could possibly get in on PI. I tried to contain my apprehension and look happy for him.

"So how do you think that you can pull that off?" I asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see."

Break time wrapped up shortly after and Tweener gave me a brief hug and we went our separate ways.


	48. Chapter 48

Just what I was hoping for. Another wonderful visit to the wonderful Dr. Tancredi. Not. I sat down on the seat and she was just giving me a checkup. I was a little surprised because Michael was sitting in the other room. Usually when he came in for his appointment, Sara leapt at the chance to treat him. I wondered if something was wrong.

"Laney did you know that Michael was married?" she asked angrily.

I held back a smile. That is what this was about. She was mad because of Michael's conjugal the other day. Funny, I never pictured her for the jealous bitch type.

"I found out during PI, but I don't who it is or anything."

I didn't want her to find out who his wife was and start like stalking the poor girl. I guess she was coping by trying to avoid Michael all together. I should have asked her how that was working out for her, but I didn't want to sound like I was the bitch.

We wrapped up our little conversation, and she said I was good to go back to my cell. Three guards came bursting through the door however. Officer Geary frantically screaming for some medical attention. Apparently, one of the inmates started having a seizure and was choking on his food. Sara quickly sped over to the inmate. I couldn't resist and I went to sneak a peek through the door.

"Oh my God, David!" I squealed.

Tweener was lying on the bed shaking furiously. I ran over to his side, but the guards were holding me back. Tears started streaming down my face. He was going to be ok, he had to be ok. He had become the closet person to me in Fox River, and I couldn't lose him. I let out a whimper when I saw Tweener look over and wink at Michael. I looked over to officer Geary and the gold watch was missing from his wrist. Anger filled inside me and I felt my face turning red. How dare he make me think he was dying just so he could get in on PI. I stormed out of the medical wing and back to my cell. I was fuming, and Abruzzi didn't dare ask what was wrong. Just wait until I ran into Michael and Tweener out in the yard. I had a few choice words to say and they wouldn't be pretty.

Unfortunately for me, the first person I ran into in the yard was Westmoreland. Surprisingly he was able to relieve some of my anger, but he didn't look to happy.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"My daughter's dying, and the state won't let me out to see her before she dies," he said solemnly.

I instinctively walked over and put my arms around him. I told him how sorry I was, and I was a little frustrated with the state. Why could he be let out for just a few minutes to see his daughter one last time? We turned both of our attention back to Michael and Tweener coming out to the yard. It worked out because Westmoreland headed straight for Michael and I approached Tweener.

"Hey," he started to say.

He didn't get in another word before I smacked him across the face. Some of the other inmates noticed and started to cheer, but I ignored them letting the hot tears stroll down my face.

"Laney what the hell?"

"Don't!" I shouted, "Don't act like you don't know what that was for. Do you have any idea how terrified I was when I saw you in the medical wing?"

"I'm ok I was just pretending. I think I did a damn good job, and I was able to get the watch for Michael," he said proudly.

Of course he thought this was one big joke. Well I didn't think that it was funny at all.

"Well I hope that you and Michael will be very happy together because you're going to need some new friends," I spat.

He looked at me shocked, but before he had a chance to answer I stormed away. I didn't even know where I was going, but I needed to go somewhere. Luckily for me we got called to go to PI and I could find something, no anything to distract me.


	49. Chapter 49

The other guys clearly noticed that I was in a bad mood. I think that Michael was the only one who really knew the reason why. I hadn't said two words since the guys started to dig. I think that Tbag wanted to do most of the talking anyway.

"I got a question that concerns you and the rest of the Mexicans?" said Tbag looking at Sucre.

"Well considering I'm Puerto Rican," replied Sucre.

"It's in regards to the entire Latino population. How is it that a people so lazy can take up most of the work force?"

Sucre hopped up out of the cell and was staring Tbag down. He said something in response, but I didn't hear what it was.

"What do you think Laneykins?"

When I didn't respond Tbag moved closer to me. He looked me up and down before continuing.

"What's wrong, problems in Tweener land?" he smirked.

I glared at him and threw a bucket full of rocks right at his face. He dodged it but he got covered in rocks and dirt.

"GO TO HELL T!"

I stormed out of the break room and was standing where they keep the supplies. I ran my fingers through my hair several times before someone came to check on him.

"You got me all dirty," said Tbag.

I turned around and tried to glare at Tbag. It didn't work and before long I started to cry again. I hid my face from Tbag and held back a cry that tried to escape. I didn't even notice Tbag come over to me.

"Poor Laney," he said.

I turned to face him and he brushed his fingers across my cheek, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb. At this point, I didn't care that it was Tbag, and I was glad that someone was trying to comfort me. He pulled me into a hug and I didn't flinch away. I rested my head against his chest and let him stroke my hair. We broke apart when Abruzzi came through the door and gave us dirty looks. We went back to work, and I didn't say another word.

After PI, Abruzzi practically dragged me back to our cells. Apparently, I did something today to make him angry. He threw me against the bunk and leaned in real close. He put both arms to the side of my head so I had nowhere to look but at him.

"Do you want to be killed Bella?" he whispered.

I looked at him confused and slowly shook my head. Why would think that I would want to killed? Who in their right mind would want to be killed?

"Then why on earth would you be hugging Tbag and let him stroke your hair?"

The way he said that almost made him sound like he was jealous that I had that moment with Tbag. The more I thought about it I didn't even know why I let Tbag do that.

"I was upset. He was just trying to help," I offered.

He leaned in so close that our noses were almost touching. I held my breath almost afraid for what was to come.

"How long have you been here Laney? Don't you know by now that Tbag is into mind games? He was just playing you like an instrument, and you fell for it."

I didn't even know how to respond. I knew that he was probably right, but at the present moment it felt good to be comforted when I was upset. Even though it was Tbag. Then I noticed that Abruzzi looked clean shaven. I smiled to myself and it was his turn to give me a confused look.

"Did you shave because I told you that you look scruffy?" I smirked.

He looked at me almost embarrassed and rubbed where the facial hair had been. He slowly nodded his head, and it made me smile again. He gave me a quick smile and then turned serious again.

"Now what made you so upset earlier?" Abruzzi asked.

"Nothing, just something happened with Tweener," said shyly.

Before I could blink, Abruzzi was pulling me out of the cell. It was only when we reached the stairs that I realized what he was doing. I begged him to stop and let me go but he only ignored my pleas. We turned sharply and he nudged me towards Tweener's cell. With one shove I fell right into Tweener.

"Laney," Tweener said shocked.

I moved backwards and turned my head in the other direction. Abruzzi was staring at me and shaking his head. I knew that I wasn't going to get out of here without talking.

"Wait please don't leave," he said grabbing onto my wrist.

I looked down at my wrist then back up at him. His eyes looked incredibly sad and I wanted to run over and wrap my arms around him, but I fought the urge. I slipped my wrist from out of his hold and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Laney, I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I didn't think it would affect you way it did," he said apologetically.

I nodded my head, but I didn't say anything. I was afraid that if I said something I would either break down in tears or run into his embrace. I just turned to leave.

"Wait, don't leave! Um, I.. do you want to dance?" He blurted out.

I turned around and was staring at him with a confused look. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. Surely he didn't mean dance right here in the cell? But to my surprise, he extended his hand for me to take.

"We can't dance here in the cell with everyone watching us," I said.

He moved closer with his arm still extended.

"Sure we can it will be just like your dream," he paused for a moment, "Abruzzi is Italian right? So just picture him singing Bella Notte."

Shockingly, it wasn't that hard to picture. Tweener smiled when he saw that he made me laugh. Suddenly, I started to hear the music. I reached out for Tweener's hand and he pulled me up against his chest. We started to sway back and forth. Behind the music, I could hear the calls from the other inmates, but my eyes were glued to Tweener's. He smiled and turned me in a circle a couple of times before pulling me close again. He took his free hand and pushed my hair behind my ear. Before the moment could end, I stood up on my tip toes and pressed my lips to his. He responded lightly and wrapped his arm around my waist. My god, I hoped this moment never ended. Unfortunately it did and when I looked out of the cell I saw Abruzzi heading back towards his cell with a smile on his face.


	50. Chapter 50

**A/N: Woo! I can't even believe that Chapter 50 is up already! It's because of all you supportive readers that really push me write so thanks so much =). I've also noticed that I have 99 Reviews so I will give a special message to whoever is my 100th reviewer! I've also figured out where I am at with the episode guide and I figured that I am about halfway there, so this is going to be a long story. I hope that is ok! As always, reviews, messages, suggestions, are always welcome. Enjoy! =D**

After the dance, I was too embarrassed to go back to my cell and face Abruzzi so I went the opposite direction to Michael's cell. He was sitting on his bunk, and Sucre was sitting above him with his feet dangling off the end.

"Laney are you feeling better?" asked Michael.

I felt embarrassed that everyone had to witness my little temper tantrum, but I nodded my head at him. He didn't look back up at me because he was fidgeting with something in his hands. I cleared my throat to let him know I wanted an explanation.

"This is why I needed that watch, Laney. I needed what was inside it for my tape recorder."

Why would Michael need a tape recorder?

"Just listen," he said clicking on his tape recorder.

Sucre and I both turned our attention to listen. Little did we know that it would take like 20 minutes for us to hear something. I started standing by the cell, then moved to sit next to Michael, then leaned against the bunk, then was lying on the top bunk with my head dangling off the side before I finally heard it.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We waited around 20 minutes to hear that?" scolded Sucre.

"Actually, we waited around exactly 18 minutes to hear the dangling of the guard's keys."

When both Sucre and I both gave him confused expressions, he laughed and continued.

"That means on the night of the escape we have exactly 18 minutes for all of us to get over the wall."

I nodded my head and I was trying to contain my excitement. I could use this to my advantage and maybe tip off the guards so they wouldn't take 18 minutes. None of them would make it over the wall before they were caught.

"Can we pull it off?" asked Sucre.

"Well it might be a little more difficult since we added one more, but I think we can do it," said Michael.

Sucre and I both did a double take and looked to Michael. I had never officially said I was going, they just assumed. Who else could be in on the escape?

"Westmoreland, or should I say DB Cooper, has agreed to support us financially after the escape so I couldn't refuse."

Now I was worried. I didn't want to bust Westmoreland for the escape. He was such a good guy and I had a feeling that he was doing this for his daughter. How could I condemn a man for that? I didn't want to think about it anymore, and luckily I didn't have to. PI seemed to have the perfect times for everything. However, the walk out to the break room wasn't so pleasant.

"I guess Fox River is just like a Disney movie now," mocked Tbag.

It took me a minute to figure out that he was talking to me. I looked at him like I didn't know what he was talking about because I didn't.

"Well inmates dancing and romancing in their cells, talk of Bella Notte, and of course our singing earlier. Wouldn't you say that is just like Disney?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. I didn't think that many people noticed my moment with Tweener, but apparently Tbag had. I just shrugged my shoulders at him like it was no big deal. I was lying of course. That dance was one of the best things of my life and I truly felt special in Tweener's arms. But I wasn't going to say that to Tbag.

"Seeing you so upset in the break room Laneykins, if you wanted to dance all you had to do was ask."

Tbag held out his hand like he wanted me to take it so we could dance. I bit my lip not sure how to handle the situation. I remembered what Abruzzi said about Tbag being manipulative. Was he trying to do this now?

"I'm going to pass T, sorry," I said.

He dropped his hand and almost looked angry at first, but his anger quickly vanished. He laughed, licked his lips, and walked off. I made my way to the break room to see Lincoln finishing up painting a wall.

"Wow guys it is really starting to look good in here," I commented.

They all gave me lame looks. The only reason they were doing actual work fixing up the room was so the guards wouldn't get suspicious. I wasn't lying though, once the room got finished, it would look pretty good. Abruzzi kept giving me funny looks the whole time, and I knew this was his way of teasing me about my dance with Tweener. I think a blushed three or four times during PI. Michael seemed distracted, though. He kept staring off into nothing like he was thinking of something. Lincoln must have noticed too. We both decided that we should confront him.

"Michael, what's up?" I asked.

He looked at us like he was about to answer when Sucre started to shriek with excitement. Apparently he hit the pipe at the bottom of hole. That means they could be done digging and were one step closer to escaping. Just great.

"I've done the math and I figure that it will take 5 minutes to get out the window and 2 minutes per person to get across the wire. The problem is we only have 18 minutes."

I sucked in a breath knowing where this was going.

"We have too many people. Someone has to go."


	51. Chapter 51

_"Hey I am going to go find Tbag and John," I told the others. _

_They shook their heads at me, but they weren't paying any attention. They were focused on Michael and making sure he got back in time. It was the perfect opportunity for me to slip out. I briefly looked around the yard but I didn't see either one of them. They were always so eager to be a part of the escape, so it surprised me that either one didn't show for PI. In the back of my mind, I was a little worried. It wasn't a secret that these two didn't get along, and I didn't think given the circumstances that their disappearance was a coincidence. I noticed that one of the other shed doors was slightly open. Surely not, they couldn't be in there. I walked over to the door and looked through the crack. I could see movement, but nothing specific so I gathered up all my courage and barged through the door._

_Instantly, a hand was around my waist pulling me into the room. The other hand was around my neck ready to snap it if it was needed. I looked around the room to see three guys beating the living daylights out of Tbag. I didn't need to see to know who was holding me._

_"What are you doing here Bella?" he hissed into my ear._

_Abruzzi released his hold on me and threw me to the ground. I looked up and Abruzzi was yelling at everyone to get out. In a couple of minutes, the room was empty except for Tbag, Abruzzi, and I. Needless to say I didn't feel safe. _

_"John what are you doing?" I asked, but I really didn't want the answer._

_Abruzzi pulled Tbag up by his collar and was just staring at him. It was one of the few times that Tbag actually looked scared. And that made me terrified._

_"I'm eliminating a problem," whispered Abruzzi._

_He pulled the knife out from his sleeve and I stared with wide eyes, and I had a horrible feeling that three people were left, but three people were not leaving this room._

Earlier…

I was sitting in the pipe system with Michael. The guys were finally able to dig deep enough to hit the pipes, and now the next part of the plan was set in motion. Michael asked if I could go down to the pipes with him, and I agreed. We got a few taunts from Tbag about what we would being doing down there, and he even threw in a joke about Tweener in there. I threw a rock at him and that shut him up. I really didn't know why Michael wanted me to go down there, but I trusted him.

He was just walking along like he knew exactly where he was going, and I blindly followed him. He made his way out of one of the pipes and we were standing in the space between a few of the pipes. There was a bag sitting on the floor and I gave Michael a confused look. He reached into the bag and pulled out a black suit. We started moving again until we stopped at what looked like a super fun slide. Michael pulled a button off of his jacket and threw down the slide. I was mildly jealous because I wanted a turn down the slide. Luckily, I would get my wish. Michael went first, but I threw my hands in the air and slid down the tunnel. When I hit the ground, I looked around the giant area I was now standing in. I didn't even know what it was, but it was huge. Way up at the top of the room was a tiny little vent with some light shining out of it. I knew that Michael wanted to get up there, but I didn't know how he was going to swing that. He took his bag of clothes and jammed it into a hole in the wall. Again I gave a confused look, but he didn't answer.

He started to head back to the break room, and I was a little frustrated. Why did he even want me to come along when he clearly didn't need my help? And it wasn't like I went along for conversation because he hadn't said two words to me. The only thing I did was go down the damn slide.

"So you really like Tweener huh?" asked Michael.

Well so much for not talking. I preferred the silence to this.

"I guess so. He is nice and funny, and we just like being around each other. That's all," I said.

"I hope you can understand that even though I promised, I can't put him on PI."

I felt angry inside when he said this. I understood that he couldn't put Tweener on PI, and part of me was grateful. But a larger part was angry because Tweener would be crushed when he found out. He had been bugging me every day since about working.

"I know."

We went back to silence for a little while, but I figured that if he could ask a personal question about me, then I could ask one about him.

"So you really like the doctor huh?"

After I asked it, I felt stupid because I knew that he was married. Why would he have feelings for someone other than his wife?

"It's an act so I can get into the hospital wing. The more she feels for me the more I can get away with things without too many questions."

What a jerk!

"Although she just found out that I was married, so I don't know how much longer it will last."

I wish I could have seen the look on Sara's face when she found out that Michael was married. She probably even confronted him about it and told him that their friendship was over and now it was only doctor and patient blah blah blah.

We reached the hole back at the break room and Lincoln and C-note pulled me out. They all thought that now since I helped Michael with this task that I was now in with big information in the escape. Little did they know that I only went down the slide. They can believe what they want.


	52. Chapter 52

We got like a 15 minute break from PI. Tweener had tossed me the football a couple of times out in the yard. I think he was jealous that I could throw farther than he could. After one last time the guards called him into the prison. I gave him a look like I didn't approve, but he only slapped my hand. I watched him walk away, and I noticed that Tbag was talking on the phone. It wasn't that he was talking on the phone that caught my attention, but the fact that he looked so happy at whoever he was talking to. I smiled and continued to watch him talk on the phone. It was kind of refreshing to see a human side to Tbag. I slowly approached him.

"You look happy," I said when he hung up the phone.

He turned to look at me and gave me his infamous smile. The look in his eyes though wasn't sinister, but happy. We got called back to PI and we walked alongside each other back to the break room.

"I was talking to my cousin Jimmy and he has a little 6 year old boy. They are just about the only family I've got."

I couldn't help but smile at Tbag. The way he talked about his family was so sincere and so kind that it melted my heart. I didn't see the terrible Tbag anymore, but a different man. I started to move past him, but he grabbed onto my elbow holding me in place. I looked back at him frightened, but he wasn't looking at me. I followed his eyes to where he was staring at Michael and Lincoln talking. I tried to get him back to the break room, but he wasn't having it. He chose the wrong time to eavesdrop because Michael mentioned something about there not being enough time and someone was going to have to go.

"Mind if I share that with the rest of the class?" asked Tbag darkly.

The three of us chased Tbag to the break room where he decided to make his little announcement. I tried to ask him not to say anything, but I think that made him more upset that I knew about it.

"Apparently," Tbag said pushing me out of the way, "pretty here did the math and we all don't got our ticket for the escape train, and Lincoln and Laneykins were in on it with him. It sounds like a conspiracy to me."

I looked at Tbag and was shaking my head. That wasn't true, there was no conspiracy against anyone. He was manipulating everyone in this room against us.

"I'm not digging if I'm not getting out of here," said Sucre coldly.

C-note was quick to agree. Abruzzi, however, was staring at me the whole time. His look was a mixture of anger and hurt. If I had to guess, I would say that he was upset that he had to find this information out from Tbag and not me.

"Let's decide right now who is getting out," said Lincoln.

Everyone started fighting at this point. Tbag had convinced them that this was all a part of Michael, Lincoln, and my plan to just get the three of us out and screw everyone else over. I had had enough.

"Come on guys enough. Tbag's lying!"

The common sense light bulb finally clicked on in everyone's head. They turned to give Tbag dark looks, and he looked a little nervous.

"Then it's pretty obvious who the choice is going to be," said Abruzzi happily.

"I thought we might hit this little snag so I made some arrangements," said Tbag.

He had our full attention.

"I got in touch with my contact on the outside and I told him that if he doesn't hear from me 5 minutes before the escape and 20 minutes after, he is to call the warden and blow the whole thing," he smiled winningly.

"T, oh my god!" I screeched.

"Sorry Laneykins, but if you are trying to get rid of me you will have to think again."

All the guys looked around at each other nervously. Since it was obvious that Michael, Lincoln, and Tbag were in, the window of opportunity was quickly closing. Somehow would have to back out soon, or all hell was going to break loose.

Needless to say that PI was a bit tense the rest of the day. I tried to lighten the mood, but nobody wanted to hear anything from me. I didn't understand why everyone was mad at me, it wasn't my fault there was too many people. I was really looking forward to seeing Tweener again so he could cheer me up. At first, he did. When he saw me he ran over and scooped me off the ground swinging me in circles. I laughed and told him to put me down.

"Did Michael mention anything to you about when I could get in on PI?" he asked excitedly.

I had to look away, and I bit the inside of my cheek. Why did I have to be the one to tell him that he wasn't on PI? Tweener took the signs of me avoiding eye contact as an answer.

"But Michael promised that I could work there. I swiped that watch for him yo."

I slowly turned my face so I was looking at him. It broke my heart to see the sad look on his face. Hey looked completely shattered.

"I'm sorry Tweener, but they just can't right now. If anything opens up though you are first on the list."

"I won't hold my breath," he scoffed.

I tried to reason with him, but he stormed off. I started getting heavy pains in my chest as I watched him disappear. I didn't like it very much when Tweener and I weren't getting along. I always felt sick to my stomach when we fought. I saw Michael walking alongside the fence and I stormed over to him.

"I hope you're happy," I spat.

He looked at me confused.

"Thanks to you Tweener now hates me because I had to tell that he couldn't be on PI. Plus, all of the other guys blame me for you not having enough time on your escape."

Michael only smiled. I didn't get this guy. He never seemed to get upset about anything. Whenever, there was a problem, he just shrugged it off and could think of any solution.

"Well, I can't help you with your love spat, but we do need to think of a solution to the other problem."

What was this we shit? I didn't have to do anything. Anything that went wrong with the escape was his problem. I didn't even have to argue with myself to know that I was lying. If Michael asked, then I would probably agree to assist him with whatever he needed. I realized that he was looking at me waiting for a response. I sighed.

"I will talk to the others to see who the best choice to get rid of is. I'm sure everything is going to work out."

Michael nodded his head at me and agreed for me to talk to the others. He told me he was busy right now and that he was going to visit Sara today. I smirked at him.

"I can't help you with your love spat either," I joked.

He smiled at me and walked inside. I rolled my eyes as I discovered that I was getting myself into another mess. The guys weren't going to be happy when they found out that I was supposed to interrogate them so I could decide which one would get the boot. Of course, who would be the one that would get all of the blame? I decided that the best person to start with would be my cell mate.


	53. Chapter 53

I took the steps two at a time to reach my cell. I figured that the sooner I started my little task, the sooner I could get it done. I walked down the aisle and stopped when I saw Tweener sitting in his cell. I leaned against the railing watching him. I had completely forgotten what I was supposed to do, and was focused on Tweener.

Two hands wrapped themselves around my waist and yanked me backwards. I let out a small squeal and was pulled into the cell. I was flung onto my bunk and I landed hard on my back. When I tried to sit up Abruzzi pushed me back down and was on top of me. He leaned in close to my face and held his knife inches from my cheek. He gently brushed it along the side of my face. For a while he didn't say anything and was just watching me breath heavily.

"What are you doing?" I said between breaths.

He cocked his head to the side and was just watching me for a little while. He was still brushing the knife back and forth along the side of my face.

"I was just curious Bella, when did you decide that you were going to backstab me?"

I shook my head back and forth like I didn't know what he was talking about. He drug the blade quickly across my face and it left a small scrape. I whimpered, but he returned the blade right under my eye.

"You knew for how long that there wasn't enough time for all of us, and you kept it from me. I can't help but think that you were plotting against me."

"John I swear I wasn't plotting against you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't think it would matter. Please don't do this."

He cocked his head to the side as if contemplating whether or not I was telling the truth, but then he slowly removed the blade from my skin. I exhaled an enormous breath and he got up off of me. I sat myself up towards the edge of the bed, and Abruzzi sat down next to me. He ran his hands over his face and the stubbles from where he shaved were starting to grow back.

"What's really bothering you?" I asked.

"One of us has to go Bella, and there is already four seats filled. That has me a little stressed out."

I reached my hand out and put it on his shoulder. I don't know why I was being so nice to a guy that probably would have killed me a few minutes ago.

"You don't have anything to worry about you know. Michael needs you for after the escape. I think it is a pretty safe bet that you are in on the escape."

He looked at me and gave me a brief smile. I could still tell though that something was bothering him. He reached over and picked up his knife sticking it in his shirt.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked worried.

"Tbag is a problem," was all he said.

Speaking about the devil himself, I could hear his voice bellowing out below us. No matter how much I didn't want to, I needed to speak with him. I left the cell and was watching Tbag. He was talking to Westmoreland, but it clearly looked like Charles didn't want to talk. It was when Westmoreland shoved Tbag that I decided to step in.

"Hey cut it out," I said stepping in between the two guys.

Westmoreland quickly backed off, but Tbag stepped forward again. I put my hands on his chest to keep him from moving. He looked down at me and bit his lip. Westmoreland had already started walking away.

"Bow out old man," Tbag called after him.

"Why are you always making trouble?" I teased.

He smiled and lifted his hand in the air. He brushed his fingers along the scrape on my cheek. I shrugged my shoulders like it was nothing.

"Why did you do that today?" I asked.

He looked at me like he didn't understand, but I knew that he did. I hit him on the chest to show him that I was serious.

"I knew that I would be the one that everyone would want to boot, so I needed to get some leverage," he answered.

I raised my eyebrows at him to let him know that wasn't the answer I wanted. I folded my hands across my chest and stuck my hip out. He decided to answer once I started to tap my foot.

"Oh are referring to me throwing you under the bus earlier, Laneykins?"

"Why yes I would be. Do you want everyone in Fox River to hate me?"

He titled his head back and let out a laugh. I switched hips and was still waiting for some sort of explanation.

"Don't worry gorgeous, I could never hate you," he said.

Tbag then brushed he hair off of my shoulder and I flinched away. He cocked his head to the side and laughed at me again. I sucked in my cheeks and moved passed him. I shivered when I still heard him laughing. I stopped right in front of Tweener's cell.

He was writing in his notebook, but he looked up at me. I was looking back at him with an apologetic look. He sighed and signaled for me to come in the cell.

"Hi," I muttered.

He stood up and walked over to where I was standing. He didn't say anything, but place both of his hands on the sides of my face.

"I'm sorry I've been acting like a real jerk lately," he said.

I looked up at him and shook my head like he didn't need to apologize for anything. He just smiled like he was glad that I forgave him so easily.

"To be honest Laney you are the closet friend I have in this place," he admitted.

I rested my head on his chest for a few moments and was listening to his heartbeat. For a moment, I thought our heartbeats were beating to the same rhythm and it made me smile.

"Well to be honest, you are the closest person I have had in a long time."

I immediately felt guilty when those words came out of my mouth. I thought of Melanie and my father, but it didn't change how I felt about Tweener. It was just something I couldn't explain. I looked back up at Tweener and he was brushing my cheeks with his thumbs. It didn't really surprise me when he bent down to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and eagerly kissed him back. He moved his hands down to around my waist and we rocked from side to side. Our lips were still touching, but we were smiling at each other. It was moments like these that made me forget everything I was doing in Fox River.


	54. Chapter 54

I never ever wanted to leave Tweener's cell. Even when we eventually did, he asked if I wanted to go out for a walk in the yard. We intertwined our fingers and strolled in the same pace along the fence. He was talking to me about a new song he was working on, but I was only half listening. I was watching Bellick and Geary walk on the other side of the fence. They were getting closer to us, and I suddenly felt very apprehensive. I was nervous that the guards would see me holding hands with Tweener, and the word would get back to my father. The last thing I needed was a lecture from him on how to do my job. When the guards got a little closer and let go of Tweener's hand and put some distance between us.

"Is everything ok?" he asked worried.

I nodded my head and smiled at him, but he didn't believe me. I bit my lip trying to think of a good excuse.

"I just need to go talk to Sucre," I said.

That excuse would pan out too because Sucre was walking out to the yard. Tweener looked over and Sucre and raised an eyebrow. I smiled to myself when I realized he was getting jealous. He was cute when he was jealous.

"Alright well I guess I'll see you later then," he scoffed.

He leaned in so he could give me a kiss, but I turned away so he had to settle for a peck on the cheek. Before the moment could get any more awkward, I walked away from Tweener. I thought that talking to Sucre would make me fell less guilty, but the look on his face made feel more guilty. He looked so defeated and helpless that I almost turned around and walked the other direction.

"Sucre what's wrong?" I asked taking a seat next to him.

He looked at me and I saw a stray tear fall down his face. I was a sucker for emotions and I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes.

"Maricruz came to visit me today," he said softly, "she told me that she is pregnant with my baby."

"Sucre that's great!" I said leaning over to give him a hug.

He barely returned it, and I was left a little confused. He found out he was going to be a father, why would he be so upset.

"That son of a bitch Hector asked my girl to marry him, and she is thinking about saying yes!"

I looked at him with a shocked expression. The poor guy just couldn't catch a break with Hector. And now it just got a whole lot worse now that Maricruz was pregnant.

"I have to get out of here now to stop her from marrying him mami," said Sucre.

"Don't worry Sucre, we will be out of here in no time," I comforted.

"Will I?"

I bit my lip thinking about how to respond. Of course everyone would be on edge about the subject because we weren't all getting out of here. Out of everyone else, Sucre was one of the best guys, so he deserved it over anyone.

"Sucre you're Michael's cell mate, of course you're going on the escape," I said.

He looked at me and smiled, and I returned the smile. Alright, so so far I wasn't doing the best job of weeding out the person that couldn't go, but hey I was making Sucre's day. I reassured him once more about the escape and left to find Tweener. Once again, my attention was distracted when I saw Abruzzi talking on the phone. I guess today I could practice my counseling skills because he looked extremely upset.

I approached slowly because I didn't want to eavesdrop on his conversation. He already tried to kill me once today, I'm sure he would easily try again. When he hung up the phone he rested his head on top of it for a few moments. God, something must be really bothering him.

"John?"

He quickly turned around and was staring at me. I took a couple steps backward, afraid that I angered him. However, his eyes showed only sadness. He wasn't saying anything and we were just standing there staring at each other.

"What's wrong, are you still upset over the escape issue?"

He shook his no, but he still didn't say anything. I was starting to get worried, he wasn't acting like himself at all. I wasn't going to let him pass until he told me what was wrong.

"I'm sure you will find out soon enough Bella," he said.

Abruzzi pushed his way passed me and stormed out of the yard. I watched him walk away, and waited a few minutes before I followed him. The way he said that made me a little nervous that he had done something I wouldn't approve of. Working for the FBI, I said those odds were probably right. I turned to go up the stairs in Gen Pop, but I heard my name being called out.

"Hey snowflake come here," called out C-note.

I rolled me eyes and walked over to where C-note was standing. He eyed me up and down and smirked to himself.

"Can I help you?" I said rudely.

"Well I just noticed on how you have been talking to most of the other guys on our little plan, but you haven't said anything to me."

I raised my eyebrows like a smart ass. So what if I hadn't said anything to him, I didn't really have any concern whether he went on the escape or not. He gripped onto my shoulders and pushed me up against the wall. I struggled against his hold, but he held on tightly and came in close to my face.

"Now you listen to me, I am going on this escape whether you like it or not. So why don't you be a good girl and tell the fish about my attendance."

I scowled at him. He had no right to boss me around and tell me what I was going to do.

"Why do you even want to go? Everyone else has a specific reason except for like you and Tbag," I spat.

He released his grip on my shoulders and was just looking at me, trying to decide what to say.

"I have a very good reason to want to be out of this place snowflake," he said.

I looked at him with my eyebrows raised begging him to continue.

"I haven't seen my wife and my daughter since I got in here, so they are my reason," he replied sadly.

My angry face slowly started to disappear. I didn't know that C-note had a daughter. And he hasn't seen her since he was sent to prison. I wonder why?

"Well, why are you in here in the first place?" I asked.

He only shook his head.

"Now that is a story for another day, snowflake. Just tell Michael what I said ok?"

With that, C-note took off leaving me standing against the wall. Great, now he thought that he was in on the escape too. I hoped Michael wouldn't be mad when he found out how horribly I was failing. I realized that I only had Westmoreland and Tbag to talk to, but I didn't really want to talk to anyone the rest of the day. Well, maybe except for Tweener. Right now, I just wanted to go and rest awhile on my bunk. I had a surprise waiting for me on my bunk when I entered my cell.

Abruzzi was sitting on the bottom bunk just staring at the wall. The way he was staring at that thing was kind of creeping me out. I cleared my throat to let him know I was standing there.

"Shh, Bella," he whispered.

He got up and was standing a few feet away from the wall. Now he was officially creeping me out. I didn't care, I asked him what he was doing.

"Do you see that on the wall?" he asked.

I turned my attention to the wall, but I didn't see anything. Well actually I did see a spot on the wall, but I could make out any distinct shapes. Apparently, Abruzzi could because that is all he would focus on. There was something going on with him, and I wasn't sure I wanted to find out.

I woke up in the middle of the night to whimpering. Surprisingly, it wasn't my own. I sat up in my bunk and tried to focus on where the noise was coming from. Above me? I think Abruzzi was having a nightmare. The last thing I remember, Abruzzi was still staring at that spot on the wall when I fell asleep. I was going to just try and ignore it when he started thrashing about on his bunk.

I stood up and was just watching him for a moment. The pained look on his face was bringing tears to my eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder and started to shake him lightly.

"John. John. John." I said.

He awoke with a start and was just staring at me. I kept my hand where it was on the bunk and was giving him a worried look. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but he looked back up to that spot on the wall. I had had it up to here with whatever was on that wall that was bothering Abruzzi.

"Tell me what you see," I commanded.

"Jesus Christ," he whispered.

I turned and looked at the spot again. I definitely didn't see the Son of God on our prison cell wall. I wondered why he thought he did?

"Do you believe in forgiveness Laney?"

I turned back around to look at Abruzzi. He hardly ever used my real name, so when he said it I knew he was being serious.

"Absolutely," I answered.

That answer seemed to satisfy him and he gave me a brief smile. He rested his head back against the wall, and I climbed on to his bunk. He didn't say anything so I assumed it was ok that I was up there. I tried to gather my thoughts carefully.

"Are you trying to seek forgiveness?" I asked.

He slowly nodded his head. I put my hand back on his shoulder and explained to him that no matter what he did, as long as he repented, God would forgive him.

"I did something unthinkable. I'm afraid just to admit it."

I felt a lump forming in my throat. I didn't want to know any of the details if he did something unthinkable, but I felt talking about it was helping Abruzzi.

"Did you kill someone?"

My breath caught when I saw him slowly shake his head. A single tear rolled down his cheek. I was at a loss for words. I thought that at some point I would go back down to my bunk and write something in my journal, but for now I wanted to be here to console John Abruzzi.

The next morning, I was sitting on the bleachers with my head resting in one of my hands. I was trying to make up for the lack of sleep last night. I let out one of the biggest yawns of my life and I heard a snort beside me.

"How's it going sleeping beauty?" asked Tweener taking a seat next to me.

I did my best to give him a genuine smile, but it didn't work. I let out another yawn and wrapped his arm around me.

"Sorry I was up really late with John," I said.

Tweener turned quickly and glared at me and I could see his face filling up with rage. I thought about what I said and laughed to myself at what Tweener was implying. I punched him in the shoulder.

"Not that you sicko, we were just talking."

He calmed down a little, but I could still see the jealousy. I reassured him by leaning over and planting a kiss on his cheek. He smiled at me and pulled me up off the bleachers. I whined in response, but he pulled me along with him.

"Laney I wanna tell you something," he said.

I sighed and nodded my head waiting for him to tell me. Whatever it was he sure was excited about it.

"Officer Bellick called me into his office yesterday."

I looked at him and was still waiting for the good part of the story. It usually wasn't a good thing when you had to go in there.

"It was tight. He shared some of his burger and fries with me, and all he wanted was that I tell him about some of the inmates."

"So like a rat?" I said before I could stop myself.

"Not like a rat. The inmates don't have to be doing anything wrong. He just wanted me to talk to him about Michael Scofield. That's all."

I think my heart skipped a beat when he said that he was supposed to keep an eye on Michael Scofield. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen, I didn't want Tweener involved in any of this. Thanks a lot officer Bellick.

"Tweener you should be careful with that. If Bellick doesn't get something in return he could make your life pretty miserable."

I just realized how big of a hypocrite I sounded. Here I was practically scolding Tweener for doing this, and I was pretty much doing the same thing only in secret.

"What you worried about me or something?" he teased.

I told him that I wasn't even going to dignify that with a response. I could have stayed talking with Tweener forever, but we were called to PI shortly after. I groaned because I didn't want to go work, but Tweener nudged me along. Unfortunately, the first person I ran into was Michael and he was eager to find out which inmate we could drop.

"Would you totally hate me if I made the situation worse?" I asked.

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Well after I talked with most of the guys, I sort of promised them that they would be in on the escape."

He blinked a few times to make sure I was serious. When he found out I was, he rubbed his hands across his head.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"It's alright, I'm sure we will get it all figured out."

I was relieved Michael was angry with me, but that still didn't ease the tension with the rest of the guys. I did notice however that Tbag came in a little later than normal and he looked destroyed. I wondered what was bothering him? Everyone pretty much worked in silence, except for when I would yawn really loudly. After about the third time, everyone turned their attention to me.

"Sorry, late night with Abruzzi," I said.

I wish that I had a camera to take a picture of everyone's faces. Why did guy's minds immediately go to the gutter when you said something?

"Seriously! We were just talking," I scoffed.

They all laughed at me and got back to work. Michael disappeared for a few moments to do something in the pipes, and when he got back we got to take a break. Since it was a little cold outside, the guards took us inside. Curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know why Tbag was late and why he looked so upset. When I got to his cell I saw him sitting on his bunk with his head buried in his hands.

"Why so late today T, were you talking to your cousin again?" I asked sweetly.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because Tbag looked up at me like he was going to kill me. He lunged forward and grabbed me around my throat. I tried to let out a scream, but couldn't and he pulled me into his cell. He threw me onto the bunk, and when I tried to protest, he slapped me hard across the face twice. I fell back down on my back and his hands enclose around my throat again. I made a noise trying to get some air, but it wasn't working.

"Did you think it would be funny to make fun of Mr. Mafia's handy work, Laneykins," growled Tbag.

He squeezed harder and the world around me started to become fuzzy. I tried to shake my head to tell him I didn't know what he was talking about. When I was about to lose consciousness, he released my throat and I doubled over gagging. I rolled back over onto my back and my chest was heaving up and down trying to catch a breath. When I was finally able to calm myself down, I looked over to Tbag to see him crying.

I sat myself up and I realized that I was crying too. I attributed that to almost being choked to death. Tbag looked over at me.

"I found out today that my cousin and his son were both murdered," he admitted.

I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. He immediately started crying again and collapsed onto my body. I didn't know what to do so I wrapped my arms around him trying to comfort him. Silent tears continued to stream down my face. I remembered what he said about making fun of Abruzzi's handy work. Did John order that the kid be killed? Then it hit me! Abruzzi felt guilty about doing something unthinkable. Oh my God, he really did kill a kid. I comforted Tbag for a few more minutes before were had to pull ourselves together for PI.

I had completely forgotten about what I looked like and that I had red marks on my face and neck from Tbag. The others were staring at me, but I wasn't giving them the time of day.

"What happened Bella?" asked Abruzzi.

As soon as that word left his mouth, I turned and glared at him hatefully. He reached out and tried to touch the spot on my cheek.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I shouted.

He jerked back and was looking at me confused. The others were also looking at me like I had gone insane, but I didn't care. I reached forward and smacked Abruzzi across the face. I bet they all thought I was really insane and stupid after that. Abruzzi grabbed me roughly by the shoulder and dragged me out of the room. Once we were outside, I jerked out of his grasp, and he was eying me angrily.

"What is the matter with you?" he spat.

"Nothing. I am perfectly fine. Although I didn't just kill a child," I retorted.

Abruzzi looked like I opened a wound and poured salt in it. I was fuming, and nothing was going to stop me now.

"Why would you do that? I never thought you could be that horrible to kill a child, but I guess I was wrong!"

"You don't understand, it wasn't like that…," Abruzzi tried to get out.

"NO! I don't want to hear anything you have to say. I hope you are able to find forgiveness for yourself John because in my eyes you are nothing but a monster."

I didn't give him a chance to respond before I stormed off. I knew that I shouldn't have left PI, but I needed to be away from him for now. Angry tears started to form in my eyes and I violently wiped them away. There was no way that that monster was going to make me cry. I felt like such a fool for trying to help him the other night, and for what he did I hoped he burnt in Hell. Even if I had to help him get there.


	55. Chapter 55

I felt bad for the next person that I ran into. That happened to be officer Bellick. He watched me with a confused look storming across the yard with no escort.

"Collins, what the hell are you doing?"

I turned at the sound of my name and was glaring at Bellick. He looked surprised and took a couple steps back.

"I just needed some air ok," I spat.

I tried to turn and walk away, but he grabbed onto my elbow and started pulling me back to the break room.

"Let go of me, stop it," I shouted resisting against him.

He didn't loosen his grip and he kept a firm grip on my elbow. He wasn't saying anything, but I kept yelling for him to let me go. I wasn't trying to go anywhere, I just needed to cool down before anyone got hurt. I was so furious that I was afraid I would fight with Abruzzi, and lord knows who would win.

"You can't just walk around as you please, now get back in there," he scolded.

I protested a few more times, but I knew it was pointless. I stopped fighting and walked alongside Bellick.

"So what's bothering you?" he said.

I looked at him unsure what to say. I didn't want to admit to him that I knew some of the stuff Abruzzi was doing, and more importantly because I wasn't doing anything about it.

"It is just I found out about Tbag's cousin, and he was really upset so it made me upset," I lied.

Bellick scoffed.

"If you ask me the world is better off with one less Bagwell roaming around."

I stopped in my tracks and turned to stare at Bellick. He was being completely serious. I was having to fight with every ounce of being not to punch his lights out. How could someone be so insensitive? Was he even aware that a child was killed too? I didn't say another word to Bellick when he took me back to the break room. The others looked up to see me coming. I noticed that both Abruzzi and Tbag were missing.

"Found princess here out taking a stroll. Tell John to keep a better eye on his workers," said Bellick.

I rolled my eyes and Bellick left the room. They were all watching me for a moment trying to decide if I was going to flip out. Michael tried to ease the tension.

"Laney why don't you come with me back down to the pipes," he said.

I nodded my head and slowly moved passed the guys. They helped me down the hole and I followed Michael down through the pipes. It looked familiar to me from the other day, but I still didn't know where I was going. He stopped in one place, and I sat down resting against one of the pipes. I gasped when Michael started to remove his clothing.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He laughed at me and removed his shirt. I started to get a little nervous when he started to take off his pants. Rather than tell me what he was doing, he took a rock and threw it down that oh so familiar slide. I was waiting to hear it hit, but I only heard a splash.

"You don't have to just sit there while I go for a swim," Michael told me,

I raised my eyebrows at him, questioning why he kept asking me down here for no reason. He only smiled at me.

"I just wanted someone else to know what I was doing around here. You are one of the few people that I trust."

I felt wonderful and horrible at the same time. I felt extremely happy that Michael felt he could trust me. It was always difficult to find anyone to trust in prison. I also felt horrible because he was trusting me, and I was going to turn around and rat him out down the road. I just smiled at him and nodded my head. He went down the slide and I heard a giant splash as he hit the water. I turned around and tried to find my way back to the hole.

I finally found the hole and C-note and Sucre pulled me out. They looked a little concerned when I came back on my own without Michael. I explained what he was doing and they focused their attention back to the hole waiting for Michael to come out.

"Hey, I am going to go find Tbag and John," I said.

….

"I'm eliminating a problem," whispered Abruzzi.

I looked over to Tbag who was staring at Abruzzi with fear in his eyes. Abruzzi took out his knife and held it up to Tbag's throat. I immediately stepped forward.

"John don't," I said.

Tbag looked over at me almost grateful that I was stepping in to save his life. Abruzzi didn't seem fazed and still the held the knife firmly in his hands.

"You don't have to do this," I whispered.

"He brought this on himself. All the children he has hurt, and the families he has tormented. "

I shook my head at him telling him that that didn't matter. I wanted to speak up.

"Maybe after everything I've done, I do deserve this, but you are no better than me," spat Tbag.

Abruzzi didn't like that very much and pressed the knife slightly into Tbag. I saw the blood trickle down his neck.

"Wait John no! I know you can be better than this. I'm sorry for screaming at you earlier, and I know that the kid was just an accident. You aren't a monster John, and God has given you the chance to choose. Please John don't kill him."

Abruzzi turned to look at me for a moment. I could see the sadness and confusion in his eyes. He honestly didn't know what to do.

"Maybe I should give him the chance to choose as well," Abruzzi whispered.

Tbag shook his head in agreement and Abruzzi leaned in close to his face so he could whisper in his ear.

"Back out of the escape."

My eyes widened as I realized what John wanted Tbag to do. Tbag looked equally surprised as well. He slowly shook his head. Abruzzi didn't seem satisfied and grabbed his face with both hands.

"I WANT YOU TO GIVE ME YOUR WORD!" he screamed.

I jumped when I heard Abruzzi scream and Tbag look frightened once more. He started saying over and over again how he promised he would back out of the escape. It took me by surprise when Tbag collapsed into Abruzzi's arm crying. I was afraid of what John would do.

"Alright, "he said throwing Tbag down, " I have forgiven you. You just have to pray that Jesus does the same."

Abruzzi slipped the knife back into his sleeve and turned to face me. I gave him a grateful smile and he slowly returned it. Neither of us noticed when Tbag sat up.

"Hey John say hi to Jesus for me," he said.

Abruzzi and I both turned our attention back to Tbag, but I wished I hadn't. It happened so fast that I thought I missed something. Tbag took the razor in his hands and flung it across Abruzzi. I watched as the blood splattered the window. The scream caught in my throat as I watched Abruzzi fall to the floor clutching his throat. Tbag was looking at me with the worst look I've seen and I made a run for the door. I felt one arm grab the back of my shirt and the other went around my mouth.

I was screaming into the hand and struggling against Tbag's hold. He only held me tighter and I only stopped struggling when I heard a rip. Tbag had ripped the shirt right off of my back and the front fell in front of me. I was left standing in my black bra with Tbag. God help me. He removed his hand from my mouth and spun me around to face him. I still didn't scream because he had taken Abruzzi's knife and the cold blade was resting on my throat.

"Don't even think about screaming Laneykins," he growled.

I trembled with fear and tears started to form in my eyes. Now I had wished that Abruzzi would have just killed him and I was the idiot that had stopped him.

"Now where were you running off to in such a hurry? Trying to rat me out sweet pea?"

I shook my head quickly back and forth, which caused the blade to cut into my skin. I let out a whimper and begged Tbag to let me go.

"Shhh shhh shhh. And I know you wouldn't be stupid enough to tell anyone because if you did some bad things would happen to you, and by the end you would be begging me to kill you.".

As he said this, the knife trailed down past my neck. Tbag was brushing it back and forth over my breasts. I started to cry at the realization of what Tbag was suggesting.

"Please don't, I promise I won't say anything, I promise," I begged.

We stood there in silence for a little while, and the only sounds were the choking noises coming from Abruzzi. I was a little relieved to know he was still alive. Tbag took the knife in his hand and jammed it into my side. I let out a squeal of pain and fell against Tbag. He dug the knife deeper and deeper, and I could feel the warm liquid seeping out of me. He ripped the knife out of me and I instinctively clutched the wound with my hand. It was instantly covered in blood, and I was bleeding all over the floor. Tbag grabbed me roughly by the elbow and dragged me across the floor. He threw me down so I was lying right next to Abruzzi. Tbag laughed at the sight of John holding his throat and me holding my side before leaving the room.

I turned my head slowly so I was looking at Abruzzi and closed my eyes. I swore I could hear Lincoln's voice shouting out for Michael before everything went dark.


	56. Chapter 56

**A/N: That last chapter was so sad to write. And unfortunately this one doesn't get any better. I'm apologizing right now for the cliffhanger I'm leaving you with at the end of the chapter. Thanks to everyone who reads my story! Please review or message me to let me know what you think! Enjoy =)**

I woke up with a start and tried to sit up, only to have a searing pain in my side that caused me to collapse on the floor. I took in my surroundings trying to remember where I was. I looked down at my body to see me wearing no shirt and my side was bleeding out. I gasped at how much I was actually bleeding. I covered the wound with my already bloody hand. I looked the other direction when I heard gurgling noises. Abruzzi was lying next to me with his hand covering his throat, and he was in and out of consciousness.

"Don't worry John we are going to get you help," I muttered.

I forced myself to sit up slowly and it almost caused me to black out again. I scooted on my butt across the floor and picked up my torn shirt off of the ground. I bit my lip as I pressed the shirt into my wound to try and stop the bleeding. I let out a loud whimper of pain when the fabric was touching me. I scooted back over to where Abruzzi, and with my free hand I placed it over John's neck.

"Please don't die," I whispered.

The tears started falling from my eyes as Abruzzi let out another gurgle. If I didn't find some help, then he would surely die. I looked around the room for anything I could use. I didn't have any energy left in me to scream, so I had to find something else to get attention. My eyes finally landed on a stray brick lying against the wall. I reached out for it and just barely grasped it with my fingers. I let out another cry from the stretching of my wound. I held the brick firmly in my hand and looked back down to Abruzzi. With my last bit of strength, I launched the brick through the window.

Luckily for us, it didn't take long for a guard to come check to see what was going on. I think his name was Patterson. He walked in on me resting my head on Abruzzi's shoulder with one hand on his throat, and the other on the shirt on my side. He muttered a few swears and called for medical assistance immediately. He ran over to where we were and tried to see if he could help us in any way. More guards and the doctors came in the room and all gasped when they saw us. Everyone's attention immediately went to Abruzzi, but the other guards were able to help me to my feet. I heard Sara call out that a helicopter was on its way for Abruzzi. They lifted him onto a bed and rushed him out the door. I slowly followed behind. When I say slowly, I mean I could hardly walk because with each step I was about to lose consciousness. I caught up to them when they were waiting for the helicopter.

I walked up to Abruzzi's side. He was out of it, but he was able to look over at me. I thought for a moment that he gave me the briefest of smiles. Needless to say, our attack had caught the attention of everyone in the yard. Even the other guys from PI sprinted out of the break room to see what was going on. The wind started to pick up and I knew that the helicopter was close. When it came in for landing, I had to fight to keep myself from falling over. Abruzzi was lifted into the helicopter and they took off. I watched them leave and turned my attention across the fence.

The other guys were looking at me with terrified expressions, probably at all the blood on my body. I tried to give them any sign that I was ok, but I couldn't do it. I also noticed that I didn't see Lincoln anywhere with them.

"LANEY JESUS CHRIST!" a familiar voice shouted.

I turned my head to see Tweener sprinting towards me. At the sight of him I started to cry harder and I lost my balance. He caught me before I hit the ground and was cradling me in his arms. He placed his hand over mine that was holding the shirt in place. He kept reassuring me over and over again that I was going to be ok and they were getting me help, but I only heard a little bit before I passed out again.

The next time I woke up I was lying on a familiar bed. It was just like the first time that I was in Fox River and I got hurt. I almost laughed at the cruel joke. I tried to focus my eyes around the room, but everything was still a little blurry. I could voices talking though.

"I think she is waking up," said a sweet voice.

I almost sat straight up because I knew that voice. It was Melanie! I forced my eyes open so I could see that it was really her. When I saw her worried face and I gave her a quick smile. She started to cry and ran over to my side.

"Oh my God Laney, I thought you were doing to die," she sobbed.

I shook my head like that was ridiculous that she thought I was going to die. I was fine. I tried to sit up to reassure her, but another stabbing pain and all the tubes in me prevented that. I fell back down on the bed, and Melanie rushed to my side.

"Shh shh. Laney don't try to move ok," she said.

I shut my eyes for a moment then looked back at her. She gave me a smile and picked up my hand with an IV in it. I started to focus my eyes on everything else in the room. Doctor Tancredi was writing in her clipboard and watching me, warden Pope and Officer Bellick were both watching me, my boss Anderson was leaning in the doorway watching me, and my father was sitting in a chair watching me.

"Why is everyone watching me?" I asked.

They all answered with a laugh. I was confused on why they would think that was funny, but nobody said anything.

"Laney you have been out for a day and a half," explained Melanie.

My eyes got wide. A day and a half! Why did it only feel like a few hours. I tried to think back to the last thing I could remember. I fought my way outside after Tbag had stabbed me, and they were taking Abruzzi away.

"Wait, is John ok," I said.

Tears were starting to form in my eyes. I couldn't wipe them away so a few escaped down my face. I felt immediately guilty with Anderson and my dad watching me.

"They took him to Chicago Hospital, but I haven't heard anything yet," said Tancredi.

I looked over to her, and she looked really upset. Even though, it was a prison, this usually didn't happen very often. It had everyone on edge.

"Laney I don't know who is was that stabbed you, but they dug so deep with the knife that they tore your appendix and we had to remove it."

I winced when she explained what happened. God, Tbag why did you have to stab me so hard? Why did you have to stab me at all? I looked up at the ceiling and exhaled a huge breath. I could feel Melanie squeeze my hand a little tighter.

"Miss Collins, I know you must be feeling extremely tired, but we need to know who did this," said Pope.

I looked over to the warden and bit my lip. I was unsure of how to answer the question. I wanted nothing more than for Tbag to rot in a grave for what he did, but if I gave them up then I would have to give up everything on the escape, and I wasn't sure I was ready to do that.

"I didn't see who it was… they blindfolded me inside the room so I couldn't see," I stuttered.

Everyone looked at me and they knew that that was a crock of shit. I turned my head to the side so they wouldn't look at me. It only made me feel guilty. I looked over to Melanie and she was giving me a frustrated look. She knew who did this, and I could tell she wanted to spill the beans. I gave her a warning glare.

"What's going on between the two of you?" my father said sternly.

Nothing ever got by him. Melanie let go of my hand and turned to face my father. I started to protest to her, and she turned to glare at me.

"I promised that I wouldn't say anything as long as you were safe. Well look at you Laney, that's not safe!"

My mouth literally dropped and everyone's attention was now fully on us. I remember her promising me this, but I never thought she would actually squeal if she thought my life was at risk.

"So Laney either you tell them what's going on, or I will," she threatened.

I could feel a lump swelling up in my throat. Everyone, including Sara, were all looking at me. My eyes lingered on Sara for a moment, and my father asked if she would leave the room. I guess she didn't know that he was my father. She just assumed they brought him in for my assault. Once she left the room, he looked at me.

"Tell me what's going on right now Laney."

I looked back and forth between everyone, and I was afraid that I had no choice in the matter. I opened my mouth to speak.


	57. Chapter 57

"There is something going on in here," I whispered after a while.

The warden and Bellick both looked confused. They wondered how something could be going on inside their own prison and they didn't know about it. Melanie, Anderson, and my father looked at me like they wanted more details. I swallowed so I could clear my throat before I continued.

"I don't know all the details yet, but if I stay here I know I can figure this out," I explained.

Melanie looked at me like that wasn't the answer she wanted. Well sorry, but I wasn't going to give it up that easily.

"Laney there is no reason for you to stay in here," explained my father.

I looked at him like he just punched me in the gut. He told me that since Abruzzi was gone, and they didn't know if he would even be back, that my assignment was over. I shook my head back and forth quickly.

"What happens when he comes back?"

"_If _he comes back, then we can just put you back in."

I scoffed.

"And that won't look suspicious at all."

My father didn't look to pleased that I was arguing this. You would think that I would be happy to be getting out of that prison, but I wasn't.

"Unfortunately for you Laney, it isn't your call to make. If your superior orders you to stop your assignment, then you will follow," demanded my father.

I attempted to cross my arms across my chest and pout. It didn't work to well. The person who did have a say over everything in the matter, however, was standing in the room with us. I looked over to Anderson with pleading eyes.

"Please sir let me stay. If I am right, what I have discovered is huge, and I would like to stay with it. Please."

He looked at me for a moment and then turned to face my father. After my father shrugged his shoulders, Anderson turned to look at me.

"Alright Laney you can stay for two more weeks. After that time we are pulling the plug on whether you have what you need or not," he said sternly.

I smiled and said my thanks to him. My father and Melanie didn't look pleased, but they wouldn't question what Anderson had to say. Pope and Bellick looked concerned on what could be going on that was so huge, but I wouldn't tell them. I didn't trust them.

Suddenly the doctor came back in the door, and everyone quickly dropped the subject. She was looking out the door when she spoke up.

"Laney are you up for another visitor? Someone was to check in on you," she said.

I had a feeling that my father was about to tell her off, but I cut him off. She said that it was one of the inmates and Melanie protested, but I hushed both of them up. I told Sara to send him in. Tweener came into the medical room and Bellick stood up to keep guard. His eyes lit up when he saw that I was ok and came hurrying over to my side. I felt a little embarrassed with my dad standing right there watching me and Tweener being all affectionate.

"Laney I'm glad you're ok," he whispered.

He bent down by my side and placed both of his hands on the side of my face. I could feel my face turning redder with all of the eyes on me. I turned my eyes slightly so I could see everyone behind me. I knew that look on Melanie's face. She thought that this was the most romantic moment she had ever seen. My father on the other hand looked like he could strangle Tweener right there. Suddenly, I wanted to make my father really angry for making me look bad, and Tweener was the way to do that.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," I flirted.

He laughed and stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. My father cleared his throat. I guess that was a sign that visiting hours were over. Tweener looked a little disappointed, but he bent down and placed a kiss on my forehead. Honestly, it was exactly what I needed and everything at once felt better. He broke the kiss and stepped out of the room. As soon as he was gone, the room got extremely awkward. Not everyone probably thought that the reason I wanted to stay was because of Tweener. I couldn't blame them because they were partly right. Only partly, though.

Sara came in and said that I was to stay in the hospital for one more day. That really didn't help my two week deadline, but no one argued with her. She explained that me resting during this time would be for the best. Melanie gave me one long hug before she disappeared. I wished she could have stayed with me. My father planted a kiss on my forehead, probably trying to erase the one that Tweener did. I smiled up at him, but he didn't return it. Anderson touched my shoulder and reminded me of my two week deadline. I nodded my head once again, and then before I could blink I was alone. Sara told me to get some rest and she didn't have to tell me twice.

"_John please don't do this!" I yelled._

"_Sorry Bella I have no choice."_

_I watched as John brought the knife up to Tbag's throat and I closed my eyes, afraid to see the monster in him come out. I waited and waited, but nothing seemed to happen. I peeked open my eyes and I didn't see John anywhere. _

"_John?"_

_I looked around the room, but the only person I saw was Tbag standing in front of me. I let out a scream and backed up only to come in contact with the wall. He strolled up to me a malicious grin plastered on his face. _

"_Oh Laneykins, John is long gone. It's just you and me."_

_My eyes widened in fear and I tried to run past him, but he grabbed me by my throat and threw me backwards. I pressed my back into the wall, hoping I could somehow disappear into it, but it was no use. Tbag had me pinned and I tried pushing his shoulders away from me. He only laughed at my attempts and pressed a knife to my neck. I froze on the spot and pleaded with my eyes for him to let me go. Tbag bit his lip and leaned in close so that our noses were almost touching._

"_Say hi to John for me." He whispered._

_Tbag drug the blade across my throat._

I woke up screaming and sat straight in my bed. I immediately reached up to my neck feeling around for a cut. I almost let out a sigh of relief when I realized it had only been a dream, but instead I burst into tears. A guard came in shortly when he heard my screaming. He tried to reassure me, but it only made me feel worse. When I finally calmed the down I rested my head back on the pillow, but I knew that I wouldn't sleep the rest of the night.

I was right. When Sara strolled in this morning, I was wide awake and watching her. She looked at surprised because she thought that I would be sleeping all day.

"Nightmares," I explained.

She fidgeted around in her desk for something and came over to my side. She set a bottle of pills on the table next to me.

"These pills should help you sleep when you try again in a few hours," she explained, "but your nightmares might go away if you just tell someone what happened."

I stared at her and then slowly shook my head. I told her that I didn't see who did it, but she still wasn't convinced. She must have gotten aggravated after that because she went right back to doctor mode. She told me that I could stay here through the night, but then I was to be released back to Gen Pop. I shuddered at the thought of being in there without the protection of John. We were both interrupted by a knock at the door. Her heart probably skipped a beat when she saw it was Michael.

"Would it be alright if I visit Laney?" he asked.

I saw Sara's face fall a little and I figured now she would probably take those pills away and make me suffer. She said that she would give us a few minutes, and the guard was right outside the door if I needed anything.

Michael took a seat next to my bed and I smiled at him. I thought it was really sweet that he would come visit me after what happened.

"I'm so sorry," he said sincerely, "I feel like all of this is my fault."

I shook my head at him over and over again. He couldn't have known what Abruzzi and Tbag were planning. They butt heads so often that it was only just a matter of time. I just happened to get myself involved.

"It was the strangest thing, but before I passed out I thought I could hear Lincoln screaming," I admitted.

He looked at me with a shocked look, but it quickly turned to sadness.

"We have a small problem," he said.

Michael explained that while I was gone the guards came to check on the progress in the break room. The only problem was the Michael wasn't out of the hole yet, and Lincoln had to stall. Apparently, Lincoln's idea of stalling was punching the guard in the face. The reason why I could remember Lincoln screaming was because he was actually screaming. After the little incident, Michael talked to the warden and Lincoln had to be kept in solitary until his execution.

However, that wasn't the worst of it. The others had already planned it out and they were going on with the escape tonight without Lincoln. Tonight? They were escaping tonight? I was going to be stuck here the rest of the day and night. I wouldn't be able to stop them myself so I would have to think of another way to make sure they didn't escape.

"Are you going with them?" I asked. I needed as much detail as possible.

Michael slowly shook his head. I had to laugh at myself of trying to picture the rest of them attempting the escape without Michael. They probably wouldn't make it passed the break room.

"What about Linc?"

"I have a plan," he said softly.

Of course he always had a plan. My question was how was he going to be able to get to Lincoln when he was in solitary all day and night. They wouldn't let him out unless it was his final visitation. Or unless there was a medical emergency. Michael cracked a smile when he realized that I figured out what he was going to do. He was going to make sure that Lincoln needed to see a doctor right at the time they were coming from underneath the break room. It scared me at how brilliant Michael was. I guess it worked out for me that Lincoln would be in the same place I was before the escape. I would try to stop it then.

"Good luck," I muttered.

He looked at me puzzled.

"I don't think I am going to be in very good escaping conditions for tonight, plus I don't think I can face Tbag."

He looked at me sadly and shook his head. I could tell that he was genuinely upset that I wouldn't be going with them. I think he thought it was his way of protecting me by getting me out of here. I reassured him that I would be fine. I decided that I didn't want to keep talking about it so I told him that I was tired and needed to get some rest. He smiled and reached up to give me a light hug. I could still feel that light attraction from when I first got here, but it wasn't near as strong as what I felt for Tweener. Michael smiled at me one more time then left the room. I rested my head back on my pillow and looked over to the bottle of pills sitting on the table. I reached over and carefully took out a pill. This would probably work for a few hours. I slipped it into my mouth and it didn't take long before I was out.


	58. Chapter 58

_I was walking down a hallway. I don't know why I was by myself, or what hallway I was even in, but I knew I needed to get back to Gen Pop. It almost felt like one of those horror movies, where the girl is constantly looking over her shoulder afraid she'd see some crazy psycho chasing after her. One of the lights overhead started flickering and I immediately tensed up. Now it definitely felt like a horror movie. _

_"Boo." _

_I let out a scream at the sudden voice; partly because it scared me, but mainly because I recognized who the voice belonged too. How could he be here, alone with me? I looked up and my eyes met Tbag's and I instantly tried running away. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back in front of him. _

"_You told." He growled._

_I looked at him confused, and that only seemed to make him angrier. He backhanded me across the face and I fell against the wall. I tried pleading with him that I didn't know what he was talking about, but he started tapping his fingers against my collarbone._

"_P-please I don't know what you're talking about."_

_Tbag cocked his head to the side. "You told your little friend Melanie about what happened Laneykins."_

_My eyes widened at his statement. "No I didn't tell anyone."_

"_Don't lie to me." He growled._

"_B-but I'm not lying." _

_He slapped me again. "I know you are, because I talked to Melanie too."_

"_What? How?"_

_A devilish grin appeared on his face. "I took her to the prom."_

_I furrowed my brow at his statement. None of this was making any sense. Melanie wouldn't be caught dead with Tbag anywhere, and why would she have told him? Tbag reached up and grabbed my throat, pulling me inches from his face._

"_And now I'm gonna take you to the prom."_

_I still looked at him confused and he was suddenly eying me up and down. I looked down and almost gasped in surprise when I saw I wasn't wearing my prison uniform; I was in a short prom dress. Tbag threw me to the ground and was on top of me in an instant. I tried to push him off, but my arms felt like they weighed tons; I couldn't even lift them off the ground. Tbag ran his hands along my thighs and I tried screaming, but his hand quickly covered my mouth while his other wrapped around my throat._

"_Sshh no screaming or I may just have to cut your throat."_

_I choked on a sob as his fingers trailed down my stomach and came to rest just below where the dress stopped. _

"_No." I whispered._

_He pushed the dress up past my hips and I started struggling beneath him. _

"_I told you that by the time I'm finished, you will be wishing you were dead." _

"_No." I spoke up a little more loudly this time._

_Tbag only laughed and started ripping my dress. I struggled with all I had, but it just wasn't enough. He sat up long enough to remove his pants and in an instant he was back on top of me. He moved himself just right for the first thrust._

"NO NO NO NO NO NO," I was screaming over and over again.

I was thrashing around my bed trying to wake myself up, but I could still see Tbag violating me over and over. I opened my eyes and someone was holding down my hands. I assumed it was a guard. However, I recognized the voice that telling me to calm down.

"Get away from me!" I shouted at Tbag.

He was still holding my arms and he was looking down at me with that stupid grin. He released my hands and sat back down in the chair next to the bed. Wait, how long had he been here?

"What are you doing here?" I spat.

"The guards let me. They said that anyone in PI could come visit you because you worked with us. I just wanted to make sure you were alright Laneykins," he teased.

"And you were just watching me sleep," I said disgusted.

"Well, I was getting ready to wake you up, but then you started shouting. Were you having a bad dream?" he said wickedly.

I immediately turned my head in the other direction. I wasn't about to tell Tbag that I was having a nightmare about him violating me. That would only add fuel to the fire. He leaned over and grabbed my chin forcing me to look back at him. He inched over so his lips were touching my ear.

"Was it about me?"

A few tears fell from my eyes as I watched Tbag smile. He knew that the damage was done, and I was now terrified enough that I wouldn't rat him out.

"Just leave please," I whispered.

He let go of my chin and sat back in his chair. He slowly shook his head to tell me he wasn't leaving. I tried to turn my body as best I could to get away from him. I could hear him laughing at me. My breathing started to pick up and I wished that he would just go away. I couldn't go back to sleep with him watching me, and I knew that I would have a nightmare about him. I turned back around to look at him. Maybe if Tbag saw how upset I was getting he would get the hint and leave. He looked at me a moment before biting his lip.

"Now Laneykins don't be getting upset. You are making me feel guilty," he said.

I glared at him, but a stray tear still fell across my cheek. If he wasn't going to leave then I might as well make conversation.

"Why did you do it?" I asked.

"I knew it was going to be one of us. It wasn't my fault that Mr. Mafia couldn't kill me."

"His name is John, and he is a man and you are just a monster," I spat.

"He killed my little cousin who had his whole life ahead of him," Tbag said darkly.

I shook my head and told him that that doesn't justify what he did. I then proceeded to ask him why he attacked me.

"You were running to squeal on me, I had to make sure you didn't."

"You terrify me T, I wasn't going to say anything."

Tbag looked at me and registered what I just said. I didn't break eye contact with him for a second. I took a breath before I started to speak again.

"You're not a monster you know, you just act like one," I teased. "I like the Tbag that acts the way he did when you were talking to your cousin."

He looked at me for a moment and the look was almost a sad one. I sort of felt bad for bringing up his dead cousin, but it was the only time that I ever saw Tbag acting like a normal person. He stood up and lingered over me for a second. I flinched away.

"Rest well Laneykins," he whispered brushing my cheek with his fingers.

I didn't have time to respond before he was exiting the room. I watched him go and exhaled. I looked up at the ceiling and just stared at the light for a moment. I think I just had a moment with Tbag. It was amazing that I just said that I liked someone who tried to kill me. Although, I liked Abruzzi and he has tried to kill me. And when Tbag brushed his hand across my cheek I didn't feel disgusted, but comforted. I still didn't trust myself to sleep though.


	59. Chapter 59

My next visit was a group of three people. My face instantly perked up when I saw Sucre, C-note, and Westmoreland coming in. They all smiled at me and crowded around my bed. I attempted to sit up a little against my pillow. It was extremely painful, but I managed to do it.

"Hey mami, how's it going?" asked Sucre touching my shoulder.

"It's just peachy," I teased.

They all smiled, but they knew that in reality it really wasn't a joking matter. Tbag nearly killed me and probably killed John.

"We're really sorry about what happened," offered Westmoreland.

I told them I knew they were, but I could tell that they felt slightly guilty. It wasn't their fault, they had no idea of what Tbag and Abruzzi were planning. No one did.

"So Michael tells me that you are going ahead with the plan," I said.

They all looked at me uncomfortably for a moment. I think another reason that they felt guilty was that they were going on with the escape without me. I told them they didn't need to worry about it.

"We have to move before the guards find the hole," said C-note.

I nodded my head like I understood completely. It didn't matter when they moved through the hole because I would be there to stop them.

"Good luck with everything guys," I said sweetly.

They each took their turn on patting my shoulder or my head. Honestly, a part of me really did wish they could be out of prison. I wanted Westmoreland to be able to see his daughter before she died; I wanted C-note to be able to see his wife and kid; I wanted Sucre to be able to win the heart of Maricruz back and be a great father. It wasn't my choice to make. It wasn't my fault they ended up in prison and they had to pay the consequences.

"Wish you could go with us," said Sucre, "it's bullshit that scum Tbag gets to go and you and Linc are stuck here."

I looked at him with a confused look. Maybe they didn't know yet that Michael wasn't planning on escaping without Lincoln. I just shook my head in agreement with Sucre.

"Everything will work out just fine," I said.

They all nodded their heads, and then we started talking about meaningless things. It was nice for once to not talk about the escape, or my attack, or just prison life in general. I just liked seeing the different side to the guys that they hid from everyone else. They had to leave when Sarah came back in the office. They all wished me a speedy recovery, and the guards whisked them away. Sara told me to take a pill and try to get some sleep, but I declined. I was too afraid that the not so nice Tbag would try to pay me a visit in my dreams.

The rest of the day was a total drag. I had nothing better to do than lie on bunk and stare at the ceiling. I knew I wouldn't sleep, so I let my thoughts wonder. Of course they went right to Tweener. I smiled to myself of just thinking about his name. I kept on smiling when I thought of him coming to visit with my father right there. He didn't know it was my father, but it was still probably the best part of the day. I was snapped out my thoughts when someone turned off the lights. I dropped my eyes to see Sara getting ready to call it a night. My heart rate started to speed up as I realized they would be getting ready to make their escape. Then I wondered how they would be able to use the hole in the break room at night? Knowing, Michael he had some plan up his sleeve.

Sara was about to close the door when two guards came bursting through. I sat up a little in my bed so I could see what was happening. They were bringing in a stretcher with an inmate on it. I strained my neck to see Lincoln writhing in pain. Now I was starting to get really nervous, Lincoln was here and that meant that Michael would continue with the escape.

What was even wrong with Lincoln? He was thrashing about holding onto his stomach. Sara was running a bunch of tests on him and I watched intently. She injected him with some kind of medicine and he instantly stopped thrashing. He collapsed back onto the bed and I looked to Sara.

"Lincoln?" I whispered.

Sara looked up at me surprised to see that I was still awake.

"He's fine, and I think it was just a case of food poisoning," she explained.

I nodded my head but kept my eyes on Lincoln. His breathing had slowed down and he was resting peacefully. I glanced over at the clock to see it read 8:30. I wondered if Michael and the others had begun their escape yet? They might run into problems if Sara was still here when they came storming into the break room. I turned my attention back when I heard Lincoln starting to stir. Sara was bent over his side explaining everything that she just told me.

"I wish I could say that is was something more to stall the execution, but I can't," she apologized.

What the hell was she doing? Why would say that you had the power to stall the execution, but say that you wouldn't? I've said it before and I'll say it again; what a bitch. I rolled my eyes at her.

"It's not your fault," said Lincoln.

Gag. She smiled at him and told him that he could stay the night in the medical wing with me. The nervousness inside me started up again. It was just Lincoln and I alone in this room and the escape was on its way. I didn't want to come right out and tell Sara or the guards to stay because there was an escape. I wanted my snitching to be as anonymous as possible. I couldn't help but feel guilty when the guys found out that I betrayed them. I decided that I would use the assistance button that was attached to my bed. Once they were almost ready to go out the window I would click that button over and over again until someone came to catch them in the act. It was a solid plan.

Sara stayed for a little while longer, but she eventually took off. When she left I squinted my eyes in the dark to try and see what time it was. 8:50. The only thing left to do was wait for something to happen. I watched Lincoln, although he probably couldn't see me. He was fidgeting nervously and I figured he was waiting for something to happen too.

"Laney," he called out.

It made me jump at first hearing his voice. I needed to calm my nerves.

"Hey Lincoln."

"I heard what Tbag did. Are you alright?"

It was that part of Lincoln that I liked the best. He was always looking out for everyone else's best interests, and put himself last.

"I'm fine Lincoln, I just have to stay here and get better. How are you feeling?"

"Sick as hell. Michael gave me some sort of pill to take to get me in here. Some of the things he does is crazy."

We both laughed because that last statement was very much true.

"He does it because he loves you," I admitted.

Lincoln didn't respond, but he didn't have to. We both knew that their relationship was incredibly strong. The only relationship that was even close to the one that Michael and Lincoln had was my relationship with Melanie. I would die for her, and I would bet that they would die for each other. Suddenly, both of us heard a noise.

Lincoln instantly sat up out of bed, and I tried but the immense pain shot me back down. I gripped my button in my hand hard and pressed my thumb on top of it. This was the moment I had been waiting for. Nobody would question my competence after I busted all of them. People will remember my name for a very long time. The noise started becoming more frequent and it was definitely coming from beneath us. I was able to trace the noise to the vent on the floor. Lincoln jumped out of bed and ran over to the vent. My breath caught as I waited for the rest of them to climb out of it. It was dead silent as Lincoln and I both waited.

"Lincoln?" said a very faint voice.

I gasped because the voice scared me. We both recognized the voice as Michael's coming from the vent. Lincoln responded by whispering into the vent. It was at this point that I realized something was wrong. They should have been up through the vent by now. I could hear Michael whispering and it sounded like something was blocking the vent. I watched in shock as Lincoln grabbed a mop and tried prying the vent open.

The grip on my button tightened, but at the same time part of me wanted Lincoln to pry that vent open so badly. In my head I was cheering Lincoln on to pull harder and harder. I bit my lip when I saw Lincoln's grip release from the mop. They had given up. They weren't going to escape. And that meant that Lincoln was going die.


	60. Chapter 60

Lincoln slammed the mop back down on the floor and stormed over to his bed. My hand instantly released the button I was holding. Lincoln was hunched over and held his head in his hands. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say. They weren't going to be able to escape. Something must have happened earlier and they blocked off the vents.

"Lincoln I…" I started to say.

I was interrupted by a guard coming into the room. He was staring back and forth between Lincoln and I. After seeing that I was ok, he walked over to Lincoln and held out some handcuffs. I wanted to protest and tell the guard that Lincoln didn't need to be restrained, but I kept my mouth shut. At first Lincoln resisted the handcuffs keeping his eyes on the vent. Before the guard had to force him, Lincoln held out his hands and let the guard handcuff him. That was the last bit of hope left in the escape, and it was gone. Once Lincoln was properly secured, the guard left us alone for the night.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I whispered.

I told myself that it was just an act, but in the back of my mind I really meant it. Lincoln was going to die tomorrow, and I was starting to realize that I wasn't exactly comfortable with the death penalty. I thought it was kind of brutal.

"It's alright Laney, I've made my peace," he answered.

I smiled at him and let out a huge yawn. He told me that I should try and get some rest. I was a little apprehensive at first because I didn't want another nightmare, but I eventually swallowed another pill. Within minutes I was fast asleep.

I didn't wake up until the sunlight started peeking through the window. I was glad that I was able to sleep through the night without any visits from Tbag. I just realized that tonight would be the execution of Lincoln Burrows. I looked over to see how he was doing, but he wasn't lying on his bed. I figured that the guards came in early and took him back to his cell. Everyone had a busy day today. It didn't take long for the doctor to show up. She noticed I was awake and gave me stern look. A little rudely, I told her that I slept through the night just fine. She told me that if that was the case then I could be transferred back to my cell.

She called for Officer Bellick to escort me back. My heart rate started to speed up again. I was a little nervous to go back with all of the other inmates. Especially Tbag. I felt safe here in the medical wing when all the inmates could only visit me. The walk back to Gen Pop with Bellick was slightly uncomfortable. He was upset because I wouldn't snitch on my attackers, and I knew something big was happening in his prison.

"The warden thought it would be a good idea to give you a new cellmate to make you feel more comfortable," said Bellick.

I felt a little sad when I thought that I wouldn't sharing a cell with Abruzzi anymore. We had come to an understanding and I just hoped that somehow he pulled through. We stopped by the door when they announced my reentry into Gen Pop. You would think that I had come back from the dead or something. I stood in the middle of the floor and every single inmate was watching me. I turned slowly in a circle looking at all of them. They only turned their attention away when I started walking. I nervously made my way to my cell, wondering who they put me with.

My eyes were on the floor until I got to my cell. I slowly lifted my gaze to see Tweener leaning against the wall grinning at me. I squealed like a girl and jumped into his arms. He caught me and I wrapped my legs around him. We spun around in circles until we collapsed on the bottom bunk. We started laughing until he pressed his lips to mine. I responded playfully for a bit then pushed him off me. He pulled me over so I was sitting on his stomach with his hands resting on my hips.

"I don't know if this cell mate thing is going to work out," I teased.

"Well you are a lot hotter than my last cell mate," he said.

We both laughed because the last cell mate Tweener had was Westmoreland. I leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead then rolled off. We turned to look in the cell to see that we had some visitors.

"Are we interrupting something," teased C-note.

We immediately put some distance between us and I could tell that my face was reddening. Michael and Sucre were both sniggering behind C-note. I tried to change the subject and get the topic off of myself.

"Ever heard of knocking," I scolded.

He tapped on the bars a few times as a joke, and all three moved into the cell. They all came in around me and Tweener was pushed towards the outside. I thought it was a little rude and I gave them all stern looks. I only grew more frustrated when C-note told Tweener to take a hike. At first he shook his head and said he didn't have to leave his own cell, but I told him that it was ok. With my warm smile to reassure him, he left the cell. That didn't mean I wasn't going to act hostile towards the other guys.

"What?" I snapped.

All three backed up just a little. They didn't expect me to be so harsh. The more I thought about it, they didn't deserve the hostility either. I apologized to them.

"What happened last night?" I whispered.

They all turned their heads to look at me with a shocked expression. I told them how Lincoln and I heard their commotion and that Lincoln tried to open the vents. Michael leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

"They changed it. They must have found the corroded vents and they changed them," muffled Michael.

Sucre and C-note both looked disappointed that they weren't getting out of here. Of course, they had no room to complain because at least they got to live to see tomorrow. Lincoln wouldn't get that opportunity. At the thought of them not being able to escape, something did cross my mind. I looked over to Michael and bit my lip before asking.

"How did Tbag react?"

Michael looked up at me and Sucre scoffed. That meant he probably didn't take it to well. And that also meant that I would probably have to deal with Tbag later. I shivered at the thought. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tweener starting to pace back and forth by the cell. I told the guys that we better wrap up the conversation before we added one more to the group. It wouldn't bother me any if Tweener got to join, but the others wouldn't have it. They each got up and left and Tweener quickly ran into the cell.

"What did they want?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and told him they just wanted to check in on me to make sure I was ok. He looked at me skeptically, but didn't argue. I was grateful for that. He climbed onto the top bunk and I rested on the bottom and that is where we stayed for the rest of the night.

I woke up to something patting me on the shoulder. I turned over on my side and I realized that my pillow was wet. Tweener rolled me back over so I was facing him and he brushed the hair out of my face.

"Are you alright? I thought I heard you crying?"

I raised my eyebrows at him, but then thought about it for a moment. I realized that my pillow was wet because I had been crying. I had a dream about being in the cell with Abruzzi, and I realized how much I miss him already. I told Tweener that I would be ok, and he started to climb back onto his bed. I quickly reached out for his hand.

"Wait, can you stay? I don't want to be alone right now," I admitted.

I dropped my head into my pillow and made room for Tweener. He grabbed his pillow and slid in next to me. We were both on our sides facing each other in silence. Tweener draped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. My head was resting in the crook of his neck and I immediately felt warm and secure just being in his embrace. He planted a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"Good night Laney," he said.

I didn't have time to respond before I was fast asleep.


	61. Chapter 61

Waking up in Tweener's arms were the best thing in the world. We could have stayed like that forever. Unfortunately, the world had to move on without us and we were called out to the yard. To be more specific, I had to go to the yard while Tweener went to one of his visits with Bellick. I quickly found Michael and Westmoreland walking out to the yard. My heart tugged when I saw the depressed look on Michael's face. Lincoln was going to be executed tonight, and there was nothing he could do about it. I snuck in behind them and Westmoreland gave me a grin.

"You know Michael, I have been doing some thinking," he said.

Michael and both looked to Westmoreland interested in what he had to say. I could just tell that it had something to do with Lincoln or the execution.

"I had a buddy on death row once, and he said that waiting is the worst part. On his day, something went wrong with the power and he had to wait three weeks for it to be fixed."

Michael's face instantly lit up. I stared in confusion because I had no idea how that was supposed to help except for putting Michael at ease. Apparently, he had thought of something that I didn't.

"So if something goes wrong with the chair, it will take three weeks, and a lot can happen in three weeks," said Michael slyly.

I stopped walking. Just like that the escape was back on. All Michael had to do was disrupt the chair, and it would by them some time. I couldn't let him do that. I was still uncomfortable with the idea of them killing Lincoln, but if I didn't stop it then they would try to escape again. And when I stopped the escape, Lincoln would be put to death anyway. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't see Tweener sneak up behind me.

"What's up my brothers," he said to Westmoreland and Michael.

I giggled and Tweener wrapped his arm around me. I looked to Michael and he looked to Westmoreland with a smile on his face. They both simultaneously said nothing, which pretty much meant that they were up to something. Tweener said whatever but I could tell that the wheels in his head were turning. He told me that he would catch up with me later and he kissed my hair. I watched as he quickly made his way across the yard. I rolled my eyes at that kid and returned my attention to Michael. He gave his appreciation to Westmoreland and went off to tell Sucre about the new plan. I followed alongside him. Sucre was sitting on the bleachers all by himself, so we quickly joined him. I sat on the edge while Michael filled him in on what was going down. I was still unsure of what course of action I was going to take, and it didn't help when I heard how excited Sucre was getting. Of course he was excited, there was still hope that they were getting out of here. I looked over to Sucre and gave him my fakest smile. We all turned our attention the other way when we heard someone clear his throat.

"I told you this wasn't over pretty," snapped Tbag.

I looked Tbag up and down and he looked downright pissed. I guess he didn't take the failed escape attempt very well. He looked menacingly at Michael waiting for a response. He raised his eyebrows at Tbag, unsure of what to say.

"Well I'm not really sure what you want me to say," he mocked.

Tbag started stalking toward us and Sucre jumped up and got in Tbag's face. I had never seen Sucre look so malicious as he did in that moment.

"You need to take a hike before I beat your scrawny ass all over the yard," he threatened.

I choked back a laugh as Tbag glared at him. I didn't want this to escalate into a huge ordeal so I grabbed Tbag by his arm.

"Come on," I said hopping off of the bleachers.

Michael and Sucre both gave me confused looks. They were probably wondering why I was walking off with the guy that tried to kill me. Again, I just shrugged my shoulders and Tbag followed behind me. I slowed down just a little bit so he could catch up to me.

"So are you up in that cell all alone Laneykins?" he asked.

I smiled and shook my head no. I thought about staying in the cell with Tweener and a huge grin appeared on my face.

"I see they put your little lover in there with you," he scoffed, "well when you are ready for a man and not a child come and see me."

I looked over at him, and this time I couldn't suppress my laugh. Tbag didn't look to happy that I was laughing, but I didn't care. I don't know if he was trying to be serious or threatening, but it just came out stupid and funny. When I was able to calm myself down I turned to look back at Tbag.

"I will try to keep that in mind," I joked.

I would have continued the conversation, but someone grabbed my shirt from behind and pulled me backwards. I was struggling against the hold, but they lifted me in the air and took me behind one of the sheds. I got slammed into the wall and I was staring into the face of one eye and a few of the other people in Abruzzi's crew. Tbag came around the corner and looked back and forth between us.

"What the hell are you doing?" I spat.

One eye was holding my shirt and he was giving me a death glare. The others were standing defensively behind one eye. I realized that something wasn't right and I started to feel a little afraid.

"We are only doing John a favor, since you were the one that let him get hurt," he hissed.

"What? How is it my fault that he got hurt?"

One eye scoffed.

"When we looked over we saw just you and John coming out of that shed. What are we supposed to think?"

"You actually think that I was the one that hurt John. And I supposed I just stabbed myself for a good show?"

One eye and the other guys all started to shake their heads. I couldn't believe this was happening. I looked over to Tbag for help, but he was just staring at the ground. One got my attention again my slapping me across the face.

"Well if you didn't hurt John, then who did?" he said.

I started to breath heavily and I looked back and forth between Tbag and one eye. I was going to have to come up with an answer. If I didn't say anything, then one eye was going to hurt me. If I told him the truth, then Tbag would hurt me. I had to decide who I was more afraid of. I looked back at one eye and slowly shook my head. He smirked at me.

Two other guys came at me and were holding my arms in place. I started to whimper as one eye looked me up and down. I started to protest, but he cut me off and punched me twice in the stomach. I tried to cry out in pain, but one of the guys covered my mouth. My stab wound was starting to ache badly, and the tears were forming in my eyes. One eye took out a knife and moved closer to me.

"Before I kill you, I think I am going to make you pay for spurning my advances like you did," he sneered.

I turned my head away and one eye started to kiss my neck. I started to sob when he squeezed my breasts hard, but it was muffled against the hand over my mouth. I realized that I was going to have to accept my fate. Abruzzi wasn't here to protect me, and I couldn't fight them all off.

I turned my head back around when I heard a gurgling noise. One eye had gasped and I saw that Tbag had stepped forward and plunged the knife into his side. From anyone else's point of view, it looked like one eye had stabbed himself. He released me and fell to the ground. Tbag was giving an icy glare, but it wasn't directed towards me. He was glaring at the rest of the gang, daring them to make move. Luckily, for me they knew better than the cross Tbag. The two guys released my arms and I sank to the ground, the tears were still falling from my eyes. The guys picked up the whimpering one eye and they all disappeared. Tbag turned his attention back towards me and he squatted down to where I was sitting.

He leaned in closer to me and reached his hand out, and I flinched away. He tried to reassure me that everything was alright, but I continued to cower away from him. Tbag let out a frustrated sigh and grabbed both sides of my face forcing me to look at him.

"Stop it Laney right now. I am not going to hurt you," he commanded.

I stopped struggling against him and was just staring at him. Tbag brushed the tears off of my face with his thumbs.

"See now I'm not such a bad guy," he teased.

I tried to fight back a smile, but he noticed. He helped me to me feet and I immediately clutched my hand to where my wound was. I looked back up to Tbag and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Of course you're not a bad guy, T, you just made that guy stab himself."

Tbag nodded his head several times that I understood exactly what he was saying. I couldn't stop myself from letting out a laugh. We walked side by side back to our cells. Of course we got a bunch of stares from the other inmates, but for once it didn't bother me. I made my way back to my cell and decided that I could get used to the nice Tbag.


	62. Chapter 62

In my cell I was standing in the doorway watching all the other inmates scurrying about. The prison was a buzz because of the execution tonight. I thought of the execution and lifted my eyes to look over towards Michael's cell. They were doing their "laundry" and Sucre was leaning against the bars. Sucre looked over to me and winked. I assumed that meant that Michael was running about trying to disrupt the chair, and stall the execution. I didn't realize he was going to try and stop it already because now I couldn't do anything to stop him. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't really want to stop him. I wasn't afraid to admit anymore that I didn't want Lincoln to die. I didn't necessarily want Lincoln and the others to escape, but I didn't want him to die. I almost didn't see Michael return back to his cell. He tapped Sucre on the shoulder and nodded his head.

I kept my eyes on Michael until he turned to look at me. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he knew what I was asking. He gave a slight smile and slowly shook his head. I smiled back and looked over to see Bellick starting to walk this way. I started to get a feeling that something bad was coming. Michael didn't seem fazed at all. At first, Bellick was just talking to Michael like any other day. Everything stopped when the lights started to flicker on and off. Michael's eyes went wide and the other inmates started cheering. I figured out that when the lights flickered, the electric chair was going off. I looked back to Michael with horror as we understood what was happening. Michael wasn't able to sabotage the chair, and the execution was going on as planned.

Bellick escorted Michael out of his cell and on his way to Lincoln's final visitation. A dry lump started to form in my throat at the thought of never being able to see Lincoln again.

"Collins get out here with Scofield," demanded Bellick.

I gave a confused look as I made my out of my cell. Bellick walked over and announced that Lincoln has also requested my presence for his final visitation. I looked to Michael to make sure that was alright, but he only shrugged his shoulders. At this point, I don't think anything really mattered anymore. His brother was going to die, and he couldn't do anything to stop it. The two of us walked in silence as Bellick led us to the large room that we could use. We pretty much had the entire day to the three of us to do whatever we wanted.

The door turned a second time and Michael and I both turned our attention to whoever was coming in. Three or four guards came in first followed by Lincoln. I let out a tiny gasp when I saw that they had shaved Lincoln's head down. He looked absolutely miserable, and I couldn't blame him. One of the guards set down a change of clothes for Lincoln when he was ready. The guards all left us alone and the three of stood there in an uncomfortable silence. Lincoln was the first to speak up.

"Laney I'm glad you came."

I immediately walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him. I could feel the tears starting to form in my eyes, but I held them back. I had to be strong for Lincoln and Michael. I told myself that I would absolutely not cry. We separated so Lincoln could go over to Michael. I quickly wiped my eyes without them seeing me. Poor Michael looked absolutely defeated and he embraced his brother. It broke my heart to see him like that. I was beginning to question why I was here? This was Lincoln's last day and he should be spending it with his brother, not me. I wanted to leave the room, but I stayed where I was. For some reason, I couldn't make myself move. I realized that I wanted to see Lincoln on his last day too.

The brothers broke apart from their hug when there was a knock on the door. Two guards came strolling in like it was no big thing. It one of their hands was a plate with something that smelled absolutely delicious. I bit my lip as my mouth started to water.

"Here is your last meal Linc," he said setting the plate down.

I smiled to myself as I saw that there were blueberry pancakes on the plate. They smelled awesome and I was jealous because I wanted some pancakes. I looked away from the food to see what the other guard was holding. It looked like some folded up clothes, but there was something underneath that I couldn't quite recognize.

"Your change of clothes, and make sure you put this on."

The guard was referring to that thing I couldn't recognize. I tilted my head to try and get a better look.

"What is it?" I asked.

The guard looked at me almost embarrassed that he had to try and answer the question. I was staring at him waiting for an answer. He opened his mouth to speak.

"It's a diaper," interjected Lincoln.

I looked back to Lincoln with wide eyes then turned my attention back to the guard. He slowly shook his head in agreement. I shook my head in disgust. How could they make a grown man wear a diaper? The guards were too lazy to clean up the mess after he was dead, so they made him feel less like a man by making him wear a diaper. The guard reminded Lincoln that he had to put it on, and they left us yet again. I looked back to Lincoln with apologetic eyes that he had to wear that monstrosity. He just shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. The three of us made our way to take our seats over on the table. I noticed that there was a deck of cards sitting on the table, and I reached over and picked up the cards.

"Have you heard from Veronica yet?" asked Michael.

I looked up confused, wondering who Veronica could be. Lincoln leaned back against his chair and was staring at the ceiling.

"She is supposed to be stopping by later today."

Obviously, this Veronica meant a lot to Lincoln. I was secretly hoping that she would stop by so I would have a chance to meet her. Michael didn't look like that was the answer he wanted to hear.

"What about the appeal? We still have time.."he said.

"Stop it Michael!" shouted Lincoln, "let's just get through today. I don't want to be tortured any more with the idea of hope."

I looked up at Lincoln with sad eyes. It made me depressed that he had given up and was embracing what was going to happen. Michael looked even more upset, but dropped the subject. He didn't want to cause trouble with his brother on his last day. Lincoln looked back to me.

"Deal the cards Laney," he ordered.

And so the day went on like that. We play round after round after round of cards. Go figure that Michael beat us like every time. During the time, I enjoyed listening to the stories from when they were younger. It sounded like both Lincoln and Michael could be little trouble makers at times. No one could have guessed that one of us was waiting to die. We were chatting and laughing away like we were the best of friends. It brightened the atmosphere of the whole room when one of us laughed.

The curiosity got the best of me and I asked Lincoln who Veronica was. He explained that she was a childhood friend and his attorney, but Michael's face told me it was more than that. I grinned at Lincoln begging for the real answer. I swore he blushed, and he denied that there was anything between them. Michael gave a small laugh and I bit my lip in order from laughing. Lincoln looked extremely embarrassed and reminded us that we were in the middle of a game.

Lincoln also decided that he would share his pancakes with us. It didn't start out that way, though. At first, Lincoln thought he would be funny and throw a piece of the pancake at me. I dodged it and threw it back at him. Before we knew it, the three of us were engaged in an all-out food fight, and not surprisingly, we ran out of food. It took a little of my special persuasion skills to get the guards to bring Lincoln another plate of food. We had to promise though that we would eat it, and not throw it around. It was like we were being scolded like children. They tasted delicious.

We were in the middle of another card game, and Michael was trying to let Lincoln win. We all turned our heads when we heard the door open. I looked confused when a very attractive girl came through the door, eyes staring at Lincoln. I saw Lincoln's eyes light up as he stood to greet her. They embraced in a hug, and I don't care what he says, there was definite chemistry between them. They broke apart and she turned to look at me with a weird expression. I thought it might be jealousy.

"Veronica, this is Laney Collins, another inmate here," explained Lincoln.

I held out my hand to shake hers, and she gripped it firmly. I don't think she liked the idea of me spending so much time with the brothers, when she couldn't. Michael was staring at her, waiting for her to say something.

"We lost the appeal," she admitted.

My heart dropped and Michael placed his head in his hands. Lincoln only shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the window.

"But your friend Sara came to see me," she said.

Michael and I both turned our attention back to Veronica. I didn't even know that Sara was involved in any of this, but I figured that Michael was desperate enough to ask anyone for help. Michael asked if she was going to take the case to the Governor, but Veronica didn't know.

"Guys it doesn't matter anymore," interjected Lincoln.

Veronica looked over to Lincoln, clearly annoyed with his attitude. She slowly started to approach him.

"I couldn't bring LJ," she said.

I looked over at her with raised eyebrows at Veronica. Lincoln's son was a suspect for two murders. If she knew where he was, then she was aiding and embedding a fugitive. Somehow though, I really didn't care. There were much more important things than busting Veronica right now.

"But I might have the next best thing," she said.

I stared in amazement and she took out a cell phone and tried to hand it to Lincoln. At first, he didn't want to talk to his son. He didn't know what to say to him. Veronica only shook her head and started to dial the phone. I thought it was a little bitchy if he didn't want to talk to his son, but I knew he would regret it if he didn't. He sat down on the window sill and held the phone up to his ear. I could see the tears starting to form in his eyes when he was talking to LJ. I turned around so no one would see the tears in my eyes. I realized that I didn't want Lincoln to die, and I wished there was something I could to save him. Sadly, it was too late for anything to be done.

I turned back around when I heard Lincoln hang up the phone. He handed it back to Veronica and she placed a hand on his shoulder. There was nothing left to do but wait. The clock was slowly ticking down and I could tell Lincoln was starting to get nervous. He was just pacing back and forth over and over again. It was a few minutes before anyone said anything again.

"I've never cared what anyone else has thought of me before," said Lincoln, "but now I'm going down in history with Booth and Oswald. The bitch of it all was that I didn't do it."

I jumped in my seat when Lincoln grabbed the table and started shaking it violently. So violently, that the plate of food fell off the table. It was in that moment that I truly believed that Lincoln was innocent and he was being framed for the murder. No one could lie that honestly and earnestly. My breath caught in my throat when the guards came through the door. All of us stood up simultaneously. We all wanted to grab ahold of Lincoln and never let him go. My eyes followed Warden Pope as he stepped into the room. He didn't even have to tell us that it was time.

The guards held out the change of clothes for Lincoln. He exhaled, but eventually changed, diaper and all. We slowly filed in behind Lincoln and we approached the chair. The hallway seemed like it went on forever. They stopped Lincoln when Sara came out of her office. She was looking extremely depressed, so I figured that she didn't convince the Governor.

"Warden wait the Governor is on the phone!" shouted one of the guards.

My heart literally skipped a beat. Everyone turned their attention to the warden as he answered the phone. Sara's eyes immediately perked up. I had it in my mind that he was going to give Lincoln extra time. Why else would he be calling? My face fell when the warden turned back to us and announced that the Governor wouldn't be stalling the execution. I felt like I needed to punch someone in the face. How dare he call and give everyone hope, and then yank it away. Sara's eyes dropped to the floor.

The guards continued us down the hallway. Lincoln kept moving, but Bellick stopped us right in front of a thick yellow line.

"Can't go passed here to the death chamber," he explained.

A dry lump was starting to form in my throat and I could feel the tears coming on. Veronica already had tears running down her face.

"Can we say goodbye?" she muttered.

Bellick nodded his head and stepped aside. Veronica rushed forward and was staring at Lincoln for a moment. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and whispered something in his ear. When they pulled apart she leaned forward and lightly kissed his lips. The tears were now flowing from Veronica's eyes, and I felt a stray one slip out of mine.

"Uncuff the inmates," ordered Pope when Veronica returned.

Michael and I both held out our hands as they slipped the handcuffs off. Michael went first, of course, to say goodbye to his brother. I couldn't fight the tears any longer when I watched the brothers hug each other. I brought my hands up to wipe my face. I could tell that Bellick and the other guards were giving me strange looks, but I didn't care. Whether this was my assignment or not, I genuinely cared for those two. They didn't deserve any of this.

The brothers broke apart and it was my turn. I tried to stop crying, but failed miserabley. I looked up at Lincoln, and was at a loss for words. He gave me a small smile, and I choked back a sob. I embraced him with a final hug. He was warm and he dropped his head onto my shoulder. He whispered in my ear and told me to take care of Michael. At that I let out a sob. He pulled back and I made my way across the line. Bellick put the handcuffs back on me, and was staring me down. I sniffed and tried to wipe my eyes because they were getting blurry with all the tears.

Lincoln started to move forward and the opened the door to the chamber. I stared in horror at the sight of the electric chair. It made more tears start to form in my eyes. Lincoln took a breath and stepped into the room. He looked behind his shoulder at the three of us, and gave us a grin. Then the doors closed.


	63. Chapter 63

The guards escorted the three of us to take our seats. I was staring at a dark room with a black curtain covering the window. I realized that this was the room they were going to kill Lincoln in. I looked over at Michael and Veronica, and they both still had tears streaming down their faces. There were a few people I didn't recognize standing behind us. I looked to one of the guards with a confused expression. He leaned over and whispered that they were paparazzi. I cringed when hearing the word. They had no right to be here to watch Lincoln die.

Our attention was turned when the curtains were pulled back. I could hear Veronica gasp when at the sight of Lincoln strapped down to the chair. He looked absolutely terrified.

"Oh my God," I muttered.

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and I had to turn away. The tears were threatening to fall again. I knew I had to be strong and I forced myself to look at Lincoln. He was looking back and forth between all the people and said something to himself. Then he started to say something over and over again. I looked to Michael and asked what he was trying to say. Michael looked just as confused as I did. They dimmed the lights and it was only seconds before the turned on the chair. My breathing started to pick up and I was sweating.

All of a sudden, the lights came back on and they immediately shut the curtain. None of us could see Lincoln anymore, and that scared me. Michael stood up angry asking about his brother. Well, more like he was demanding to see his brother. Officer Bellick came through the door and told Michael to be quiet. That kind of pissed me off a little and I put my hands on my hips glaring at him.

"You three need to follow me," he ordered.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get to see my brother," responded Michael.

Veronica and I were both shaking our heads in agreement. I was wondering what the hell was going on. Unfortunately, inmates really didn't have much say in what we could or could not do, so the guards escorted us back to the final visitation room. Michael was visibly upset, and he knocked a chair over. I felt for the guy. What if they killed Lincoln and none of us witnessed it? I swore that there would be hell to pay if that happened. Veronica was busy trying to calm Michael down, so I was the only one who noticed the warden step into the room. He spoke up and made everyone else in the room jump.

"I just wanted to let you all know how terribly sorry I am for all of this," he said.

I cocked my head to the side trying to figure out what he meant, but I heard the clanking of handcuffs in the background. My jaw literally dropped when Lincoln came strolling into the room. I put up my hands to cover my mouth, and Veronica moved over to Lincoln. He looked so shaken beyond belief. Of course, he was just moments away before death.

"What happened?" asked Michael.

Lincoln made his way over and sat down in the nearest chair. I felt like I had to do something so I rested my hand on Lincoln's shoulder. He didn't move.

"Apparently, some new evidence has come to light, and the judge has ordered a stall in the execution until it can be properly investigated," explained the warden.

I couldn't help but smile at that news. This meant that there was still a chance that Lincoln could get off the hook. I looked over and I could see the wheels in Michael's head start to turn. He started to think about the escape again. The warden left us all alone, and Michael was going to say something, but Veronica cut him off.

"I'm going to go get Nick and talk to the judge. Michael don't do anything drastic until I find out what is going on."

I thought it was kind of interesting that Veronica had an idea of what Michael was planning. She didn't seem too concerned with trying to stop them either. Luckily, I had no problem doing it. Veronica leaned over and planted a kiss on Lincoln's cheek. She got up and left the room, leaving the three of us alone. Lincoln suddenly got very agitated and leaned forward in his chair.

"Michael did you see him?" he asked.

I turned to look at Michael wondering who Lincoln was talking about. The viewing room was pretty much empty except for us and the paparazzi. Michael looked equally confused.

"Did I see who Linc?"

Lincoln leaned in even closer and whispered so low that at first I thought I didn't catch what he said.

"It was dad."

Apparently, I didn't understand something because the look on both brothers' faces was one of pure shock. What was the big deal if their dad was there? I figured I would have to ask about it later. I looked over to the clock on the wall and it read a little past two in the morning. I ran my fingers through my hair and let out a yawn. Luckily for me the guards came in a little later to escort Michael and I back to our cells. Lincoln got a hug goodbye from me, and we left.

Gen Pop was mostly quiet do to the fact that it was two in the morning, but they were waiting to see what went down with Lincoln. Things got a little more exciting when they saw the return of Michael and I, but we weren't going to say anything. Michael got dropped off at his cell first, and of course Sucre was up waiting for him. He turned to look at me, and I gave him a reassuring smile. I noticed that when I got to my cell, Tweener was fast asleep and it startled him when the door opened. I choked back a laugh as I stepped into the cell. He squinted as if trying to get a better look at me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," I whispered squatting down beside him.

He only shook his head like it was no big deal. I slipped off my shoes and started to crawl up towards the top bunk, but Tweener grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into him. I didn't resist at all. I snuggled against his chest, and I thought that he went back to sleep.

"How did it go?" he asked.

Actually it was more of a muffled noise because he buried his face in my hair. I giggled, but I could still tell what he was asking.

"It was the most terrifying thing in my entire life."

I was being completely honest, and considering all the things that had happened here in Fox River, that was saying something.

"Well death is a pretty scary thing," he tried to reassure me.

I smiled to myself.

"Tweener, they didn't kill Lincoln," I admitted.

He pulled away from me slightly, which made me sad, and was looking at my face to see if I was lying. I gave him a look that told him I was serious. Why would I even joke about that?

"What happened? Did something happen to the chair?" he asked almost panicked.

Now it was my turn to give him a funny look. He was being awfully specific with his questions. Did he know something that I didn't?

"There was some new evidence that came up like literally seconds before it was too late," I said.

"Oh," was all that he said.

"What's up Tweener? You're acting funny," I said.

"It's nothing."

I was starting to get annoyed.

"Really? Don't play this game with me, I know something is on your mind. Now tell me what is going on."

I heard him sigh and I removed my arms that were hugging him. He wasn't going to get any affection from me until I got some answers.

"The other day I overhead you talking with Michael about something happening to the chair, and Lincoln's execution would be delayed."

I nodded my head signaling for him to continue.

"Well Bellick was getting on my case about no information, and he demanded 200 dollars from me. I didn't have that money so I told him what Michael said."

I shot up into a sitting position and was glaring at Tweener. I couldn't believe he would eavesdrop on the conversation and then rat us all out.

"Tweener how could you do that? I told you to be careful around Bellick, and the thing I warned you about happened."

"Why do care? Michael was going to do something to that chair, I know it," Tweener spat.

I rolled my eyes.

"I care because I don't want Lincoln to die. I'm not saying that Michael's actions were justified, but I still wouldn't have ratted him out."

"Well, I'm sorry Laney, but if I hadn't said something, then Bellick would have put me in a cell with someone who is probably just as affectionate as you are. Bad things would have happened to me."

Tweener went to get up off the bed, but I grabbed on to his elbow. I wasn't trying to hurt his feelings. And it made me a little nervous at the thought of those terrible things happening to Tweener.

"Wait, Tweener I'm sorry. It doesn't matter anymore what happened happened," I said.

He turned to look at me for a moment. Then smiled. He moved back down beside me and put his hand on the side of my face. I held onto his hand and gave him a reassuring smile. He settled back into bed, and once again I snuggled up against his chest. He was really warm because he had gotten all worked up. It didn't take long for Tweener to fall asleep, and I was shortly after.


	64. Chapter 64

Winters in Illinois were terrible. When Tweener woke me up in the morning, I was freezing. Not to mention I only got like 4 hours of sleep. He handed me his sweatshirt to wear, and I gladly took it. Much to my dismay, they still made us all go outside, even though it was so cold. I huddled next to Tweener for warmth, and my feet were starting to get cold from the snow on the ground. Plus, to top it all off, it was snowing. I could see the white in my hair briefly before it melted.

I broke apart from Tweener when I saw Michael talking on the phone. I had no doubt in my mind that he was talking to Veronica or someone to tell him what was going on with Lincoln. I scurried over, which was hard to do because I kept sliding in the snow, and waited for him to get off the phone.

"What's the verdict?" I said when he hung up the phone.

He turned to look at me and signal for me to walk with him. I could tell that he was trying to gather his thoughts.

"The judge ordered a stay of execution because he received an anonymous file. It showed that the man buried underground was not Terrance Steadman."

My mouth dropped, that was huge. If the body underground wasn't really Terrance Steadman, then Lincoln can't be responsible for his murder. By this point in the conversation, Sucre had joined us. Michael explained that if it wasn't Steadman in the ground, then Lincoln would be exonerated. If it is, then we are right back where we started.

"What does that mean, Papi?" asked Sucre.

"It means that we get back to work," said Michael.

He was referring to the escape of course. He wouldn't wait to find out the news without a backup plan in motion. Sucre's face lit up at the possibility of still getting out of here.

"I just have to find another way out of here," Michael explained.

Sucre and I both looked confused. How was he going to find another way out?

"And how are you going to do that?" I asked.

Michael looked at me and smiled.

"The tattoos."

At this point, I was freezing, and the guards let us go back inside. It was still apart of yard time, so the inmates could hang out in each other's cells. I wanted to go chill with Tweener in my cell, but I was grabbed by my arm and swung into a different cell.

"Good morning miss Laneykins," said Tbag.

I was still a little apprehensive around Tbag. Of course, I would, I mean he nearly killed me after all. It made me nervous to wonder what he wanted from me.

"What do you want Tbag?" I said sharply.

"Ouch not very friendly this morning, did you have a late night?" he teased.

I punched him in the arm. How dare he make a joke about Lincoln's execution. He thought he was being a smart ass, well I could be one right back.

"Well for your information, Lincoln didn't get killed last night."

I crossed my arms lifted my head in the air, and proceeded to exit the cell, but Tbag pulled me back. He slammed me back into the wall and pinned me there so I couldn't go anywhere. I was glaring at him, but inside I was terrified. He was looking at me furious.

"What did you say?" he seethed.

I bit my lower lip. I didn't know he was going to react this way. Why would he care whether Lincoln got killed or not?

"You heard me."

I was rewarded with a slap across the face. Apparently, Tbag didn't like the smart ass comments.

"And did you and pretty think it would be appropriate to share this information with the rest of the class?"

"It doesn't seem to matter to me, if we told you or not."

Another slap across the face.

"It does matter doll face." He leaned in close to whisper in my ear, "so is the escape back on?"

I figured I could test the waters a little bit and do a bit of lying.

"How the hell should I know T. Why aren't you confronting Michael about this?"

I didn't get slapped across the face. I got punched. I whimpered and tried to get away from Tbag. He only gripped me tighter. My eyes dropped to the floor, but Tbag took his other hand and wrapped it around my hair and pulled forcing my head to tilt back. He was staring down at me.

"If you think you are getting out of here without me, you are sadly mistaken," he growled.

I was trembling beneath him, and I didn't know what to do.

"Hey get off of her!" I heard a familiar voice shout.

Tweener came barging into the cell and shoved Tbag away. I collapsed to the other as Tbag stalked towards Tweener. He was showing courage, but I had a feeling he was pretty scared on the inside. I didn't want Tweener to get hurt, so when Tbag grabbed Tweener's shirt I got a little nervous.

"Tbag stop!" I said.

The both turned to look at me. I was making direct eye contact with Tbag, which probably upset Tweener. I was pleading with my eyes for Tbag not to hurt Tweener. It must have worked because Tbag released Tweener and backed up. He gestured for the both of us to get out the cell. He didn't have to tell me twice. Tweener helped pick me up off the floor and we hurried out of the cell. We didn't slow down our pace until we got back to the safety of our cell.

"Jesus what the hell was that Laney?" spat Tweener.

I ran my fingers through my hair and was staring at Tweener. I shrugged my shoulders because I didn't know what he wanted me to say.

"I didn't mean to get snatched by Tbag and for him to beat the crap out of me you know," I said.

"No, not that. I mean that moment you two had. When you were staring into each other's eyes."

The way he said that almost made him sound like he was jealous. That was it, he was jealous. I started to laugh, which did not make him very happy.

"I'd like to know what is so funny about us almost getting our asses kicked?"

"Excuse me our asses? I'm pretty sure it was just going to be yours," I teased.

He gave me a look to let me know that he wasn't playing around.

"You're too cute when you are jealous."

I laughed when Tweener's face turned bright red. He turned around so he wasn't facing me and walked over to the bunk.

"What are you talking about? I'm not jealous of Tbag."

"Yes you are. I don't know what to tell you. I don't know why I have a connection with Tbag, but I do," I explained.

"That doesn't make any sense Laney. And I. am. Not. Jealous."

I snuck up behind and wrapped my arms around his waist. I stood on my very tip toes so I could kiss the back of his neck.

"You know what, that day that Tbag tried to get you to join his cell and he grabbed your leg, I got so jealous that I growled," I whispered.

Tweener turned around and placed his hands on my hips. He gave me a look that told me he was very interested that I got jealous over him.

"Well if anyone was going to share a cell with you, it was going to be me," I reasoned.

He smiled down at me.

"So you don't like Tbag," he asked.

I raised my eyebrows and silenced his worries by giving him a sweet kiss. He lifted me into the air and I kicked my legs up behind me. I crossed my ankles in the air and wiggled my nose with Tweener's nose. My heart sank when I heard the guards call for PI. Tweener put me back on the ground and gave me a little pout. I stuck my tongue out at him and scurried out of the cell.

Brrrrrrr. PI was extremely cold out. It didn't matter how many layers of clothing I had on, it was cold! And of course we were like carrying stuff, and having to salt the sidewalks. I wrapped my arms around myself as tightly as they would go and moved slowly behind everyone else.

"So what's the play snowflake?" asked C-note.

I realized he was looking at me. Why did everyone here want the answers from me?

"Ask Michael?" I said blankly.

I started clicking my teeth together because I was so cold. All the guys were laughing at me.

"We're still going out through the infirmary, we just have to change the in between," explained Michael.

Tbag and C-note were protesting about having to change the plans, and the sound like a bunch of children.

"There's a reason they changed that vent into a pipe you know," I spat.

Tbag gave me a dirty look, but didn't say anything. Michael said that was exactly the reason for changing the plans.

"There's only one other building to get to the infirmary," said Michael staring ahead.

We all followed his gaze to where he was staring at the asylum.

"We have to go through the whack shack?" asked Tbag.

Michael nodded his head.

"Another problem is that the break room doesn't connect the asylum directly. It will only take us midway."

"And where is this midway point?" asked C-note.

Michael smirked, "Laney is standing on top of it."

I immediately looked down followed by everyone else. I was standing right on top of a giant drain in the middle of the yard. Michael wanted them to make part of the escape out in the open. Now I know he had gone crazy. Hell, the odds were in my favor that I wouldn't have to bust them and they would get caught on their own.

"Oh hell no! There are three guard towers surrounding this place. Your plan sucks," whined C-note.

"It's suicide," said Sucre.

Michael only shrugged his shoulders and said that that was the plan like it or not. I had a hard time believing that a genius like Michael couldn't figure out a better plan, but he was crunched for time so he was working with what he's got.

We wrapped up the rest of our PI duties, and headed for the cells. I guess I lost track of what day it was because it was laundry day. One of the inmates usually came around each cell to collect the dirty laundry. Mine was easy to keep track of because my size was smaller than the rest of them. I realized when I reached my cell, that I had the best cell mate in the world. Tweener had my laundry all folded up and ready to go for me.

"What's this?" I teased.

He looked at me almost embarrassed.

"Oh it's nothing, I just wanted a reason to go through your clothes," he teased back.

I rolled my eyes and moved further into the cell.

"Well, you are very sweet," I said.

He moved closer to me like he was about to kiss me, but there was a knock at the cell. We awkwardly broke apart from each other and looked over annoyed to see who interrupted us. It was the guy to collect the laundry. I choked back a laugh because the guy reminded of Sucre in a way. He was Latino so he looked and talked like Sucre. Other than that they were pretty different. Sucre was fairly attractive, but this guy was really heavy set and looked frightened all the time.

"You two love birds have your laundry?" he asked.

Tweener scoffed and quickly threw his clothes at the poor guy. I gave him a reassuring smile and told him thanks for picking up the laundry. He returned the smile and was on his merry way.

"Now where were we?" he asked in almost a whisper.

When he leaned in to kiss me again, and I didn't try to stop him. I pressed my lips to his and put my hands on his chest. He brought his hands up to run through my hair. I guess the heat got the better of us because we both started kissing a little more urgently. He wrapped his arms tightly around my middle and brought us both down to the bunk. It was my turn to run my fingers through his hair, and he started trailing kisses on my neck. I snapped out of it when he started to lift up my shirt.

"Wait, Tweener, hold up a minute," I breathed out.

He released my shirt, but was still kissing my neck, which wasn't helping the situation. I brought his face up to mine and when he looked at me he could tell I was serious. He sighed and stopped kissing me, but didn't get off of me.

"Trust me it's not that I don't want to, but I don't think we should in the cell with everyone watching us."

Tweener rolled his eyes, "come on Laney, no one is watching us," he said leaning in for another kiss.

In between kisses I tried to reason with Tweener. It was extremely hard to do because his kisses drove me crazy.

"Tweener, I am the only girl in this prison. Everyone is always watching."

Tweener sighed again, "alright."

He pushed himself off of me and got up off of the bunk. I sat up and I could tell that he was upset. I moved over to him with an idea in my head. I knew how to make him feel better. I intertwined my fingers with his and leaned in close and started kissing his ear. I heard him sigh a couple of times.

"I will make it up to you, I promise," I whispered in his ear.

He turned to me and smiled, causing me to laugh. I then punched him in the arm and moved back over to my bunk where I stayed for the rest of the night.


	65. Chapter 65

I knew that something was definitely up the next morning at breakfast. Michael and Sucre were acting so weird around everyone. I knew Michael had planned something, and they were just waiting for the right moment. I was being impatient, and I wanted to know what was going on right now. After breakfast was over, I followed Michael and Sucre back to their cell.

"What are you two up to?" I blurted out.

They both looked at me, surprised at first, but they eventually told me to move into the cell. I took a seat on Michael's bunk, and urged them to continue.

"I need to go back into the pipes tonight," said Michael.

I looked at him like he was crazy. It was dangerous to just be wandering around out of his cell. If he got caught, then everyone would be screwed.

"I need to familiarize myself with the system for the psych ward," he explained.

I still didn't feel relieved. It seemed amazing to me that Michael had blueprints of the entire prison tattooed on his body, but he was having difficulty with remembering the details of the whack shack. I voiced my opinion and said that I didn't think it was a very good idea for him to be going out of the cells. He only laughed at me.

"Sucre came up with a little plan to help out with that."

I turned to look at Sucre, and he gave a wicked smile. Right on cue, it seemed like, that Latino laundry guy came into the cell. I tensed up because I was afraid that he heard our conversation. Sucre moved over to him and started talking to him in Spanish. I looked over to Michael, confused as hell, but he only shrugged his shoulders. I turned my attention to see the laundry guy get something from underneath his shirt and hand it to Sucre. In an instant, he was gone.

"Alright Michael, my cuz says that this will help you walk around, but if you get caught then we are all dead."

I had to choke back a laugh. The laundry guy and Sucre were cousins. No wonder I thought they were so similar. It definitely sparked my curiosity as to what he brought Sucre that would help out Michael, but I wouldn't get the chance to ask. The guards called us for PI duty and we were off.

Luckily for my hands not having to freeze to the bone, we were back working inside in the break room. The break room was really coming along, and if Michael didn't plan quickly, the guys were going to have to think of another way to keep working in there long enough for the escape. C-note was carrying a bucket over to the wall when he tripped and something fell out of his pocket. Being the nice person that I was, I leaned over to pick it up and hand it back to him. My hand stopped when I saw that is was a postcard from Iraq. Why would he have a postcard from Iraq? He quickly snatched it out of my hands.

"Did that say Iraq?" I whispered so no one else could hear me.

He turned to glare at me, and I knew to drop the subject. I moved over to lean against the wall. I looked back over to the door when Tbag knocked on it three times. That meant that a guard was coming this way, so cover the hole. Michael told everyone to look busy and C-note moved over to the wall beside and acted like he was inspecting it.

"Oh shit," he muttered to himself.

I looked over to see that he tore a hole in the wall covering. The gravel and dirt from where they were digging the hole was starting to seep from the wall. I didn't even know that they had been putting it in there. I had really been out of the loop for a while. I moved over to the wall to assist C-note, but the door opened and I pulled back.

C-note pushed his foot up against the wall right as Bellick walked through the door. He was staring at all of us like he suspected we were up to no good. The funny part was that he was actually right.

"My God you guys work slow," he complained.

I rolled my eyes at him, which earned me a nasty glare. He told us all to pick up the pace or he would replace us with faster workers. We all got back to work. That is, everyone but C-note. He just stayed in the same spot holding his foot up against the wall. Unfortunately for him, Bellick noticed and slowly approached him.

"You got a problem there C-note?" he asked. "Otherwise get back to work."

C-note was staring at Bellick trying to think of the right thing to say. He leaned forward without removing his foot and cupped his knee in his hands.

"Yeah boss, I just have a small cramp," he lied.

Bellick looked like he could care less.

"I said get back to work con."

C-note started to look a little nervous, and was trying to decide what to do. Westmoreland saved the day when he stepped in.

"He said get back to work!" he yelled pushing C-note out of the way.

It made me jump at first because I was wondering what was covering the hole, but I saw Westmoreland leaning against it with his leg. C-note kept up the act and looked angrily back at Westmoreland.

"Watch it old man," he warned.

"Construction is a sweet job. If you want the easy job, then go clean toilets," Westmoreland responded.

That earned a laugh out of Bellick, which was always a good sign. C-note moved away and pretended to work on something else. Bellick congratulated Westmoreland on a job well done (lame) and left us alone to continue our work. Westmoreland breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one," he joked.

Everyone laughed at Westmoreland and I leaned against the wall. That was a mistake because the wall sort of caved in and I think the entire residue from the hole came barreling through that hole. It seemed endless, but eventually I was left standing in the huge pile.

"Smooth move Laneykins," said Tbag.

I gave him a nasty glare and kicked myself out of the rocks. The guys quickly sprang into action and started picking up the mess. I didn't want to cause any more trouble, so I moved outside with Tbag. When I opened the door my eyes went wide because Tbag was talking to two guards. I quickly shut the door so the guards didn't see and Tbag looked over at me like he could kill me. (Big Surprise). The guard looked over at me, but then turned his attention back to Tbag.

"Come on. Don't you know what college team Schmidt played for?" asked the guard named Stotle.

Tbag was just trying to get rid of the guards so he shook his head no several times. Stolte scoffed.

"I bet if I asked you what his ass looked like you would remember."

Tbag looked annoyed and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I wouldn't be laughing for long because Stotle started to move to the break room so he could ask one of the other guys. I looked at Tbag and told him to do something. He just shrugged his shoulders because he didn't know what to do. What did Stotle say was that player's name? Schmidt. That name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place the team. My heart literally skipped a beat when Stotle started to open the door. From the corner of my eye I could see Michael standing in the hole trying to dump all of the stuff back in. He was looking at the door in pure horror.

"Ohio State," I finally blurted out.

Stotle stopped opening the door and turned to look at me. I gave his a winning smile because I knew that was the right answer. He shut the door and continued his conversation with the other guard. When they both walked away Tbag looked at me with a curious expression.

"I like football," I admitted.

He grinned and gestured for us to move back into the break room. The poor guys had been scared shitless when they thought that they were going to get busted. They quickly discarded the rest of the dirt and we left PI to go back to our cells. Tweener gave me a smile when I entered mine. I returned it and stood back to look at the others. Sucre and Michael were pacing in their cell back and forth like they were waiting for something. It definitely sparked my curiosity when Michael pulled out that package that laundry guy brought him.

He quickly unwrapped it and I strained my head to see what he was holding. From what I could tell, it looked navy blue, and was some kind of fabric, but I didn't know what it was. Michael quickly started stripping down his clothes, and I immediately turned away. Since Tweener came into the picture, I tried not to notice when the other inmates didn't have shirts on. It was pretty difficult.

"What are you doing?" Asked Tweener.

I was so absorbed with watching what Michael was doing that I had forgotten that Tweener was actually right behind me, so when he spoke up it scared the shit out of me. I jumped backwards and put my hand up to my chest to signify that Tweener had scared me.

"Nothing, I'm just looking around at the other inmates," I half lied.

I gave him a cheesy smile, and hoped that would suffice, but he moved closer to where I was standing. He looked out of our cell door and straight over to where Michael was standing shirtless. He turned back to me instantly and my eyes dropped to the floor in shame.

"Were you checking out Michael?" he asked.

I bit my lip and looked back up and tried convincingly to shake my head no. Tweener's jealousy got the better of him again, and he didn't believe me.

"Don't lie to me Laney. Do you check out all the guys here?"

I figured there was no point in trying to lie if he wasn't going to believe me anyway. I sighed at him like I was annoyed before continuing.

"I can't help it Tweener. I am the only girl in an all-male prison. Some of these guys aren't bad on the eyes, and it is hard for me not to look."

Tweener looked at me like I just smacked him across the face. He told me he didn't want me to lie to him so I told him the truth. He started to angrily move passed me and climb onto his bunk where he would pout for the rest of the night.

"Stop acting like a baby," I spat, "yes it is true that I am physically attracted to some of the guys here, but there is only one super attractive one that I have kissed. Or would want to share a cell with."

He looked at me again, and I raised my eyebrows at him to tell him that he was an idiot. He rolled over onto his side so he was facing me.

"Can I go back over to the door without getting the third degree please?" I asked.

He slowly shook his head in approval, and I smiled at him. Even when he was upset and embarrassed, he still was the cutest thing. I tried as quickly to get back over to see what Michael was doing, but when I looked over the sheet was blocking my view. Dammit Tweener.

I was too curious to think about anything else so I slid my back along the wall until I was sitting on the floor. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around myself snuggly. To make sure I wasn't just constantly staring at Michael's cell, I would avert my eyes around Gen Pop occasionally. I could tell that Tweener was still watching me, and a few times I would look over and flirt with him a little bit for good measure. I told myself, however, that I wasn't leaving this spot until something, no anything happened.


	66. Chapter 66

I hadn't realized that I had fallen asleep until I startled myself awake. I had curled myself into a ball on the floor. I sat up groggily and ran my fingers through my hair. I looked over to see Tweener pretty much passed out on his bunk. I hope that I didn't fall asleep before he did, and he just left me on the floor because that would be pretty rude. I pushed myself onto my feet and let out a giant yawn. I looked over to at the other cells and everything was quiet. It made me wonder what time it was. I could see one guard at the bottom of Gen Pop getting ready to start count. It reminded me of why I was over here in the first place, and I quickly looked up to Michael's cell.

The sheet was gone from the cell, and Sucre was standing next to his cell door. He was looking nervously at the guard starting the count. I squinted my eyes to try and make out Michael in the dark, but I couldn't see him. I could only assume that he was out of his cell messing around. I really hated not knowing what was happening. Recently, Michael pretty much told me everything that was going down with the escape plan, and now I didn't like it very much when he kept me out of the loop.

I broke eye contact with Sucre's cell when a light flashed in my face. I blinked several times and stepped away from the door. The guard was looking at me with a confused look.

"Collins, what are you doing? It is nearly two in the morning."

It was almost two in the morning? And Michael wasn't back in his cell yet. What the hell was he doing? I realized that the guard was looking at me waiting for an answer.

"Oh um, I.. I couldn't sleep because I got into a fight with Tweener. I was just trying to clear my head," I lied.

"Go back to bed," he ordered.

I tried to protest, but he told me to go, and he wasn't going to move until I did. I climbed into my bunk and turned away from the guard and the light quickly disappeared from the cell. It wasn't until I rested my head against the pillow, that I realized how tired I was. I was trying to force myself to stay awake so I could see if Michael made it back, but that wasn't happening. I slowly succumbed to sleep. At some point, I must have rolled back over because my arm was dangling off the edge of the bed. I jolted awake when I heard a blood curdling scream. It scared me so much that I fell off my bunk and landed hard on the floor. What frightened me so much was that I recognized the voice of the screamer.

It was Michael.

I scurried off the floor and hurried over to the door. The scream had woken up most of the inmates, now furious for being woken up. I wrapped my hands around the bars trying to find Michael. I found their cell, but it was still too dark to see anything. I heard Tweener stir behind me and he sat up in his bunk.

"What the hell?" he said groggily.

I shook my head at him to tell him that I had no idea what was happening, but I would give anything to find out. Some of the main lights flickered on and a group of guards came in. That really got the other inmates going because all they wanted was some sleep. I realized that once the lights were on that I could see into Michael's cell. I turned my eyes back to his cell. Sucre was standing with his hands over his head, and Michael was writhing in pain on the floor.

"Michael," I muttered and Sucre looked over at me.

The guards made their way over to Michael's cell to see what was causing the commotion. Two guards immediately backed out putting their hands over their heads. I heard one of the guards mutter a few swear words. The guards quickly sprang into action and hurried to get Michael to the medical wing. Tweener sensed my nervousness and jumped down from his bunk to stand right behind me. I was so terrified that I was starting to shake. I desperately needed to know what was happening with Michael, and I was truly concerned for his well-being. Tweener reached out and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Laney what's wrong?"

When I didn't answer he spun me around so I was looking at him. He wasn't expecting the tears that were forming in my eyes. I was so scared that I didn't know what was going on that it was bringing tears to my eyes. Tweener instantly wrapped his arms around my body and I collapsed into him. I was exhausted from the lack of sleep, and apprehensive about everything that was happening. Tweener rested his head in the crook of my neck and was whispering in my ear. He was telling me that everything was going to be alright. I didn't know if I believed him, but it was still extremely comforting.

I finally broke apart from him when I heard Bellick yell at the rest of the inmates to go back to bed. I quickly turned around and saw that Michael and Sucre were both out of their cells. I stood at my door and started screaming for Bellick. Tweener told me to stop, but I just shrugged it off. Bellick angrily approached my cell.

"What do you want Collins?" he asked irritated.

"Where's Michael? What happened?"

Bellick sighed.

"He had to be rushed to the medical wing. We should know more by tomorrow," he explained.

"Take me. I want to see him," I demanded.

Bellick looked at me like I was insane. I raised my eyebrows at him to let him know that I was being serious. I could hear Tweener's shallow breathing behind me, he didn't like the idea much either.

"I can't take you to the medical room tonight, go back to sleep," responded Bellick.

"No, I want to go right now!"

Bellick realized that I wasn't going down without a fight. He brought his fingers up to his forehead and rubbed his eyebrows together. I crossed my arms across my chest waiting for an answer.

"I will take you first thing in the morning, that is the best I can do," he said grimly.

I sighed a very loud and annoyed sigh, but I shook my head in agreement. He told me that I had to go to bed and couldn't cause trouble before then. I shook my head again, and to show some good faith I moved over to my bunk. Bellick quickly left Gen Pop before anything else came up, and Tweener stood there watching me for a few moments. I stretched out on my bunk never taking my eyes off his. He looked worried about me, but I think he was concerned at my urgency to go see Michael. It was kind of sad to see his insecurity about how I felt about him. I started to feel guilty. I hadn't been acting very affectionate lately, and everything was about Michael. No wonder he was feeling insecure.

"Tweener, I'm still a little shaken. Would you come lie with me until I fall asleep?" I asked innocently.

His eyes instantly lit up and he hurried over before I changed my mind. He snuggled in close to me and wrapped his arms around me. I cuddled up next to him and buried my face into his neck. I was listening to him breathe for a while, but I decided that I should do something extra special.

"You know this isn't very comfortable," I whispered.

Before he had a chance to move, I rolled over so I was sitting on top of Tweener. His hands were now resting on my legs, and I could see the passion in his eyes. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't what I had in mind. So I didn't disappoint him entirely, I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his. He responded eagerly and brought his hands up to run through my hair. I could tell that we both wanted to go much, much further. I had to break this before we went too far. I broke away from the kiss and moved so I was lying on top of Tweener with my head resting against his chest.

"Much better," I teased.

One of his hands found mine and our fingers intertwined. As much as I wanted to find out if everything was alright with Michael, I wanted to stay here with Tweener for just a few more moments.


	67. Chapter 67

I felt like I got a full 20 minutes of sleep, when one of the guards came knocking at our cell. I was still asleep on top of Tweener when he called out my name. I jerked awake and put a little too much pressure on Tweener, causing him to wake up too. The guard had his eyebrows raised at us as we tried to smoothly get up out of the bunk. It wasn't so smooth. Once we were both up the guard asked if I still wanted to go to the medical wing, or if I would rather stay here and play house.

It took all my energy to not say something smart back at this guy, and I approached the door. I turned around and gave Tweener an appreciative smile before I was out of sight. I tried hurrying to the medical wing, but the guard was taking his sweet time. I thought we would never get there. When we finally got there I didn't wait on the guard before I burst through the door.

Sara looked up at me with surprised eyes, but I just ignored her. My eyes went straight to Michael. He was still unconscious, lying on his stomach, with bandages wrapped around his back. The guard roughly grabbed my elbow for just bursting through the door. He scolded me and said that Bellick ordered him to handcuff me while I was present around the doctor. I scoffed to myself at Bellick trying to look like he was doing his job. Once I was handcuffed, the guard said he would be waiting right outside the door.

"Sara what happened to him?" I asked as soon as the door shut.

"It's Doctor Tancredi, and you may want to sit down before I tell you what happened."

Ok someone was acting a little touchy about name titles today. I did what she told me and took a seat in the nearest chair and eagerly awaited for her professional diagnosis.

"Last night Michael was burnt very badly. The question is who and why?"

She gave me a look, but I didn't have the answers. How the hell was I supposed to know who burnt Michael last night? We were all supposed to be locked up in our cells. If that held true, then the only people capable of burning Michael were either Sucre or Michael. I would have offered a response, but Michael started to stir. We both turned our attention back to Michael.

He lifted his head and looked groggily around the medical room. He first focused his eyes on me then turned his attention to Sara. Her eyes changed from icy to sincere as she approached Michael.

"Hey Michael, how are you feeling?" she asked.

He nodded his head like he was feeling ok. I got up and walked over to him and placed my hand on his not injured shoulder. He gave me a brief smile and I returned it. Sara walked over to the medicine cabinet and got out a couple of pills for Michael. I helped him sit up and Sara extended her hand to give the pills and a cup of water.

"Is it that bad?" Michael teased.

"I would take the pills if I were you," she responded coolly.

Michael smirked and downed both pills. He reached over and tried to remove the bandages so he could see the damage. Sara scolded him and told him that the bandages have to stay on. I swore he started to pout for a moment. Sara turned serious and looked Michael dead in the eye.

"I need to know who did this Michael. Was it your cell mate?"

I rolled my eyes at the thought of Sucre burning Michael. Apparently, Michael thought the same thing because he immediately shook his head that Sucre wouldn't do this.

"Then who did it?" she asked annoyed.

Michael shook his head signaling that he wasn't going to tell her what happened. She got up from her chair clearly frustrated and stormed out of the room. When the door opened we heard her tell the guards that we were ready to be escorted back to Gen Pop. I knew I had like 5 minutes before the guard came to get us.

"What really happened Michael?" I whispered.

"I made it safe and sound to the psych ward and got through. When I was coming back I was down in the boiler room when I ran into another guard. I tried to hide myself, but I backed up into a pipe, causing my burn."

I bit my lip at the thought of backing up against a burning pipe. While that was a horrible, I was even more concerned with the fact that he was able to get through the psych ward and without getting caught. Apparently, Michael could read my mind.

"That package Sucre's cousin brought me was a prison guard's uniform. The guy at the psych ward thought I was really a guard."

Excuse me. The laundry guy stole a guard's uniform and gave it to another inmate to participate in the escape. I guess that I just found another ass to nail to the wall. I didn't have time to respond to Michael because the guard came to escort us back. I helped Michael to his feet and left my arm around his waist as I helped him walk. He was still a little groggy from the anesthesia. I thought that the walk to the medical wing was a long walk, the walk back felt like it took even longer.

We got several looks from the other inmates as I tried to help Michael get back to his cell. My eyes caught with Tweener's who was looking at my arms wrapped around Michael's waist. I rolled my eyes because Tweener was going to have to get over this insecurity thing. We finally reached Michael's cell and I helped him onto his bunk. About the same time Sucre came storming into the cell.

"Aye aye aye, the guards kept me up the rest of the night interrogating me. They think I was the one that burnt you."

I had to laugh at Sucre because he always made a big deal about the smallest things. He didn't do anything so he really had nothing to be worried about. I could understand the guard's suspicions though. Only two people in a locked cell and one of them came out burned.

"It also turns out that Officer Geary was the uniform that you borrowed. I thought he was going to ring my cousin's neck when he saw the burned hole through his uniform."

I had to crack a smile at that. You would think that Geary could be smart enough to make a connection between his burned uniform and Michael being burnt around the same time. I was starting to realize that the guards in this place weren't the smartest of guys. Sucre turned his attention back to Michael and asked if his mission was even successful.

Michael stood up and started to remove the bandages. He was explaining that all of us could use the psych ward to get to the pipes that lead us to the infirmary. Michael removed the rest of his bandages and looked at the spot on his shoulders. His eyes went wide as the bandages slipped from his hands. I looked in the mirror to see a giant burn mark covering the back of Michael's shoulder. He was still staring wide eyed at the spot and looked terrified.

"What's wrong Michael?" asked Sucre.

"The blueprints to the psych ward. They're gone."


	68. Chapter 68

**A/N: Hey guys I know that my past few chapters have been a little boring, and I'm sorry. I'm also sorry to say that the next few aren't going to be real exciting either, but they are really really important for Laney! Hang in there with me because things will start picking up again. I love all of you readers and everyone who sends me reviews. Enjoy =)**

I guess you could say that things were almost returning to normal back at Fox River. We were falling back into routine of doing our PI work without Abruzzi. The only thing that had Michael stressed out was figuring out how to make up for the lack of blueprints to the psych ward. Knowing Michael, it shouldn't be too hard for him. The best part of my days was definitely the nights. I got to spend them with my favorite inmate here. Tweener was finally starting to get over his insecurities a little bit. He didn't seem so jealous of the fact that I spent most of my days with Michael, Sucre, and Tbag.

Ever since I asked Tweener to sleep in my bunk with me, he had been doing it every night. There were no objections coming from me. I woke up one morning when the guard started calling everyone out for count. The call didn't wake Tweener up so I put my mouth close to his ear and started to whisper into it. I laughed when he started to stir a little. I nibbled on his earlobe before continuing.

"Tweener I have an idea." I whispered.

He opened his eyes and looked at me with interest. I rolled over him so I could get up off the bunk and started to take off my clothes. If he wasn't awake before he was now. I told him to give me his shirt quickly. He looked at me confused, and slowly started to remove his shirt.

"Take off your pants too," I commanded.

Now he looked like I had completely lost my mind. I think we had different ideas for why we were removing our clothes. He just couldn't get the idea of us having sex out of his head. Once I had stripped down to my bra and underwear, I flipped my head over and started teasing my hair. I wanted to make it as messy as possible.

"Tweener, Laney get out here," called out Geary.

I flipped my head back over panicked and Tweener gave me a look that told me I looked like a mess. Perfect. I quickly snatched the shirt out of his hands and slipped it over my head. It was a good thing he was bigger than me because the shirt fell past my butt and touched my thighs.

"Hey you two love birds get your asses out here now!" Geary called out annoyed.

His sentence was absolutely perfect timing and Tweener finally caught on to my little idea. He grinned as I started to move out of the cell. It was moments that those when I wished I had a camera. I thought that some of the guys' eyes were going to bulge from their heads when they saw me in bare legs and just a t shirt. I couldn't suppress a grin when Geary dropped his clipboard and his smacked on the floor. What I didn't expect was for Tweener to take part in this little game. He came out in only his boxers and wrapped his arms around me.

"Sorry boss, we uh… had a long night," he said.

I let out a real yawn that added to the story. Several cheers came from the other inmates. Some seemed downright angry that Tweener would get to spend the night with me. Geary finally snapped out of his daze and picked up his clipboard so he could move on to his next inmates. Once we were given permission, Tweener and I scurried back into a cell giggling like children. Tweener grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close to him.

"Laney I didn't know you could be so mischievous," he said.

I smiled and ran my hands over his bare chest.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," I admitted.

He looked at me for a moment with a confused look. Then he grinned and his grip tightened on the bottom of his shirt I was wearing.

"Well let's take some time and get to know each other."

He started to lift the shirt off of me. I felt the heat starting to spread throughout my body. I let the shirt get up to my stomach before I stopped Tweener. I explained that we didn't have enough time and the others would surely interrupt us. He knew that I was just stalling though. He moved over and got out a change of clothes to put on for the both of us. I slipped off his shirt and handed it back to him and put my clothes back on. Together we headed out to breakfast.

Needless to say, we both received several stares at breakfast. I had only meant it to be a joke, but everyone was taking it really literally. I saw Michael sitting by himself at the table, and he was looking particularly depressed. I leaned up and kissed Tweener on the cheek, and told him I would catch up with him later.

"Hey Michael," I called out.

I wasn't the only one who thought that they would approach Michael. Pretty much everyone wanted to approach Michael. Sucre, Westmoreland, C-note, and Tbag all made their way over to the table. It was weird how whatever mood Michael was in seemed to translate to the rest of the group.

"What's wrong?" I asked taking a seat.

The guys all gave me funny looks. I had no doubt in my mind that it was because of my little performance this morning. I blushed and looked down at the table. Like I said, it was only supposed to be a joke.

"I just don't understand how such a loser like Tweener can get with someone like Laney," muttered C-note.

"Tweener isn't a loser," I defended.

I gave them a look that told them I wanted to stop this conversation. I wanted to talk about Michael, not me. Something was clearly bothering him.

"Michael?"

He looked over to me.

"I talked to Veronica today. The man that is buried turned out to be Steadman so they have no evidence to exonerate Lincoln."

Now I knew why he was so upset. They didn't have any more reason to stall the execution, so Michael was going to have to work faster. That was more pressure added to the fact that he had no idea how he was supposed to do that.

"Lincoln doesn't seem like a killer to me. What happened Michael?" I asked.

He sighed and rubbed his head like he was trying to remember exactly what had happened. He then turned his attention back to me.

"It's not a pleasant story," he said.


	69. Chapter 69

_Three years ago, on a cold December day Lincoln Burrows was sitting on his front porch sleeping. The snow was lightly falling and if you looked hard enough you could see Lincoln shivering in the cold. Michael Scofield approached his brother with disgust. He loved Lincoln very much, but he was on a downward spiral. Michael cleared his throat to get Lincoln's attention. _

_"Michael you came," mumbled Lincoln wiping off some snow. _

_"What is it Linc?"_

_Lincoln looked at his feet almost embarrassed. _

_"I got locked out," he admitted. _

_"I found these on the ground," said Michael handing over Lincoln's keys. _

_Lincoln quickly took them from Michael to make sure they were really his keys. Michael sighed. He didn't have time for this. He needed to get back to work, and help out with this big project. Lincoln was just wasting his time. _

_"Hey do you want to grab lunch sometime? I need to talk to you about some stuff," asked Lincoln. _

_"I have to get back to work," scoffed Michael, "which I heard you got fired. What happened this time Lincoln?"_

_Lincoln narrowed his eyes at Michael. Who the hell did he think he was? If only Michael knew everything that Lincoln has sacrificed for him. _

_"Do you really want to know, or are you just enjoying the view from your high horse," said Lincoln through clenched teeth._

_Michael seemed unfazed. _

_"I want to stop having to act like the older brother to my older brother. _

_And with that Michael turned around and left. _

At this point in the story, we had left breakfast and were headed out to the yard. From what Michael was telling me, it sounded like the brothers weren't always as close as they were today. It really didn't sound like the Michael I knew at all.

"I'm sorry Michael, I just have a hard time believing that you wouldn't be willing to help your brother."

He smiled as he clearly took that as a compliment. His smile faded and he gave a hopeless look. Apparently, he was thinking about the time where he didn't come through for his brother. I had a feeling that I was going to hear this part of the story.

_Michael had had a stressful day of work. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the thought of Lincoln out of his head. Was he being to mean to not offer his brother a listening ear? Did he secretly like being in a high place than his older brother? Conveniently, both the answers to those questions were no. His brother had made the choices that he did that got him where he is today. Michael couldn't help that he had turned out different, and received a college education. He wasn't going to let Lincoln make him feel guilty for anything. _

_A few other guys that Michael worked with convinced him to go out to the bar after work and have a few drinks. Michael didn't get out very often, and decided that was exactly what he needed. So after work, they ordered drinks and were laughing and joking like guys do. Michael had turned his attention to the TV for a brief second to listen to Vice President Reynolds give a speech._

_"Do you like her Michael?" teased one of the guys._

_Michael rolled his eyes and took another sip from his drink. He didn't really like anyone at the moment. He just hadn't me that right girl._

_"Ok if you had to choose, would you do Reynolds or that new secretary for the mayor?"_

_Michael rolled his eyes yet again and said he wouldn't "do" either one. That got a few laughs from the guys and they kept badgering him about it. Luckily, an old friend came to his rescue._

_"He would probably pick the secretary because he never had a thing for blondes," said Veronica Donavan leaning against the counter._

_Michael smiled at seeing his childhood friend. He hadn't seen her much since she went off to law school. And he doubted that Lincoln ever saw her. There was a time when he thought that Veronica and Lincoln would never be apart, but then Lincoln took a turn for the worse._

_"It's great to see you V," Michael said proudly._

_"How are you Michael?"_

_"I'm good. Doing really good. How are you?" _

_Veronica giggled._

_"Well I work for this law firm as lawyer number 97, but the benefits are good," she said with a laugh."_

_Veronica bit her lip trying to decide if she wanted to ask Michael the next question that was on her mind._

_"How's Lincoln? He dropped off the radar a couple of years ago."_

_Michael sighed and took another sip of his drink._

_"He's Linc," was all he replied._

_A few hours later, a very drunk Veronica was leaning on Michael for support as they made their way back to his apartment. That is not to say that he didn't have a little too much to drink either. They giggled as they stumbled up the stairs and while Michael tried several times to fit the key into the door. Once he got it open, he reached his hand inside trying to find the light switch._

_Veronica quickly moved into the room and was babbling on and on about God, but Michael didn't hear most of what she was saying. She reached up and tried to take off one of her high heels, but she lost her balance and started to fall forward. Michael reached out and caught her in his arms. He pulled her so close that their noses were almost touching. He was watching her, and he realized just how beautiful she really was. A surge of guilt went right through him. For as long as he could remember, she had always been Lincoln's girl. But in this moment right now, Michael realized that maybe this was the girl he had been waiting for. He would not let Lincoln make him feel guilty for something that felt so right._

_He leaned in close to try and kiss Veronica, and to his surprise she didn't try to pull away. When their lips were nearly touching, Michael heard his phone start to buzz. He sighed and wondered who in the hell would be trying to call him? Veronica giggled and was waiting for him to answer the phone. He pulled it out and saw Lincoln's name on the caller id. Why didn't it surprise him? _

_Michael realized that he had a choice to make. It was either choosing his brother, or choosing Veronica. He had already made up his mind._

_He hung up the phone. _

_Veronica knew that it was Lincoln who tried calling Michael. And as much as it hurt him, he could see it in her eyes. She still had those strong feelings for Lincoln, and he had no doubt that Lincoln still felt the same for her. So it was with a heavy heart that Michael started to back away from her._

_"We can't do this," he whispered._

_"I know," was all she replied._

_Michael moved closer and brushed some of her hair behind her ear. He couldn't help but feel the twinge of jealousy when he thought that Veronica would always be Lincoln's girl._

_"But I want to," he whispered again. _

_Veronica wanted to end this awkward night before it got worse, and attempted to leave the apartment. Michael, being the gentleman he was, offered to take her home, but she slipped away before he had the chance. Michael was left standing alone._


	70. Chapter 70

This story just kept getting better and better. I had no idea that at one point Michael had feelings for Veronica. It seemed like the three of them had been in each other's live for a very long time. I realized that Michael was waiting for me to say something.

"So you really thought she was the one?" I teased.

It was good to see Michael smile. I don't think he particularly liked retelling the story, but I was glad he decided to share it with me. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get to hear the rest of the story. A guard came to get Michael for his insulin shots. I pouted as they took Michael away. Now I was all by myself walking around in the yard. What was I going to do?

Luckily for me, I wouldn't have to spend the rest of my yard time alone. Sucre came up beside me and wrapped his arm around me.

"Hey mami, you have been spending a lot of time with Michael today."

I laughed and pushed him arm off of me in a teasing way. He tried to put it back around, but I kept pushing it off.

"Michael was just telling me the story of his time before he ended up in Fox River," I explained, "what were you doing Sucre?"

He stopped walking and stood watching me for a moment. I thought that maybe I said the wrong thing. Perhaps, not everyone in here had a story they wanted to share. I didn't want to make Sucre mad at me so I tried to correct the problem.

"It's ok Sucre, you don't have to tell…" I was cut off.

"No it's ok. It was actually a pretty happy time in my life."

I looked interestingly at Sucre. There was no doubt in my mind that this story had something to do with Maricruz. I exhaled an annoyed breath when the guards yet again interrupted us. They told us to move inside. I grabbed Sucre's hand and quickly pulled him inside. He was laughing at me as I led him back to his cell and went inside. I hopped onto Michael's bed and demanded that Sucre tell me his story.

_Fernando Sucre was hanging with all his friends on this cold night. They had all went out to dinner and were just waiting around for something else to do. He brought along his heavier set cousin and his cousin Hector for the ride. They were joking and having a good time when out of nowhere, this idiot comes by and smokes Sucre in the shoulder. If the guy hadn't kept on running, Sucre would have given him a beat down. He settled for just screaming at him in Spanish. _

_He noticed that a group of girls started to giggle at him. He looked through them all and he wasn't interested. Then one girl looked up and their eyes met briefly. Sucre felt like his whole world stopped for just a moment. He knew right then and there that that was the girl of his dreams, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. If only he knew her name. _

_"Hey do you guys believe in love at first sight?" asked Sucre._

_Hector looked over to Sucre with a disgusted look and made some joke. He then looked over to see that Sucre wasn't paying any attention to Hector, but instead was focused on some girl. A very beautiful girl. She gave an earnest smile at Sucre, and he smiled back. When he smiled yet again, the girl blushed and her eyes dropped to her feet. Hector looked over to Sucre with nothing short of jealousy. He wanted this girl all to himself._

_A few days late, Sucre was taking a stroll with his buddies. He couldn't stop talking about this new girl._

_"I'm telling you I think she is the one. She is so perfect, and she is not from here. She lives uptown."_

_Hector scoffed._

_"You really think a girl like that will go for you?" he asked._

_"Yes, I am taking her to a real nice place tonight," countered Sucre annoyed. _

_Hector scoffed again. _

_"And how are you going to afford that?"_

_As much as he didn't want to admit it, Hector had a point. Sucre was a little short on cash these days and he couldn't take a girl like that to some place cheap. He needed a quick way to come up with some cash. The gas station was the perfect place. He pulled his hood over his head to conceal his face the best he could. He pulled out his gun and approached the guy at the counter._

_"Ay open the drawer right now!" he shouted._

_The guy behind the counter looked terrified and immediately tried to open the cash register. Sucre kept looking over his shoulder for any sign of anyone else. He wasn't going to hurt anybody, but no one else needed to know that. He just wanted some money to take the girl of his dreams out to a nice dinner. The guy held out a wad of cash in his hands._

_"Actually I just need this much," said Sucre taking one bill._

_The guy looked stunned as Sucre took off from the gas station._

I could feel my heart beating loudly in my chest. This was one of the most romantic stories I had ever heard. At this point in the story, Sucre was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, and I was on my stomach with my face cupped in my hands. When he was done talking, I was smiling big at him.

"Sucre you broke the law for love. That is so sweet."

In reality, I knew that love was not really an excuse to break the law, but it was such a cute story. And it is not like his crime was really violent. He just needed some extra cash to take his girl out for a nice evening.

"So did you sweep Maricruz off her feet?" I asked with a smile.

Sucre let out a huge grin and nodded his head. I didn't see how this story could get any worse.

_The date with Maricruz had gone off without a hitch. Sucre knew for a fact that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this girl. He was lying in bed one morning with his arm draped over her just thinking about waking up in her arms every morning for the rest of his life. She stirred in her sleep and was watching him with a warm smile. He took his finger and started tracing her perfect bare stomach. _

_"You are so beautiful," he cooed._

_She giggled and rolled over so she was lying on top of him. For acting so sweet, he deserved a little good morning kiss. _

_"Tell me what you want Fernando. What do you want for the future?," she whispered._

_He pondered her question for a moment trying to think of the perfect answer. _

_"If I said that I wanted you, would you run away?"_

_She smiled and leaned in close to Sucre's face. _

_"Only if I knew that you would chase me."_

_He returned her smile, and together they were lost in their passionate kiss. _

_Sucre could talk of nothing else but Maricruz to his friends. He guessed that they were probably getting tired of hearing his tale of love, but he couldn't help himself. Everything about this girl was so perfect. The one person that was taking it the worst was Hector. Sucre didn't know what his deal was. Just because he couldn't find love._

_"I think I am going to propose to her as soon as I can afford a ring," Sucre said excitedly. _

_"So like never," teased Hector. _

_Sucre had had enough of Hector's attitude. _

_"What the hell is your problem primo?"_

_Hector smirked._

_"I'm just trying to look out for you. How do you think you are going to afford a ring for a girl like that?"_

_Sucre pondered that question for a moment. He thought that maybe it was time to pay a visit to his favorite gas station. Lucky for Sucre, that same guy was working from the last time. He pulled his hood over his head and took out his gun. This just needed to go as smoothly as it did the first time. He approached the guy and started screaming for the money. Apparently, the guy thought it would go the same because he tried to hand Sucre a single bill. Sucre looked at him and the guy immediately started giving out more money._

_"I'm really sorry," Sucre said before taking off. _

_He reached the door when the red and blue lights started flashing through the windows. The sirens were the next thing he heard. Sucre' s heart dropped. He wasn't supposed to get caught. Not now. What about Maricruz? What would she think? Sucre didn't want to get shot so he dropped his gun and gave himself up to the police. They roughly handcuffed him and led him out to the police car. It no time Sucre's perfect world came crashing down._

_He was going to Fox River._

I gasped when Sucre was done with his story. He ended up in Fox River because he was trying to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"Sucre I am so sorry," I muttered.

"Don't be sorry Laney, it isn't your fault. I was the idiot who broke the law."

I shook my head at Sucre. He wasn't an idiot. I was really grateful that he decided to share his story with me.

"See, Sucre it sounds like Maricruz really cares about you, so I'm sure she is going to wait for you forever how long it takes."

Sucre got up and walked over to me. He smiled at me and gave me a hug. I think he needed to hear that his girlfriend would wait for him.

"It sounded like Hector was even a jerk back then," I teased.

Again Sucre laughed. I was glad that I could help him cheer up a little bit. My eyes lit up when I saw Michael return to the cell. I didn't even wait for him to get back in. I grabbed onto his arm and started begging him to tell me the rest of his story. He moved into the cell and leaned against the wall. I returned to the bunk and sat Indian style on the edge of the bunk waiting for him to begin.


	71. Chapter 71

_Michael hadn't spoken to Veronica since that night at his apartment. He thought to himself about the trouble they could have gotten in if they would have given into their urges. Michael's heart still hurt a little every time he thought about it. He now spent the rest of his time working away. At the present moment, he was helping a colleague work on a project. He was in the middle of it when Veronica came bursting through the door. Michael took one look at her beauty and started to feel that pain again. It didn't help when he could tell that she wasn't in a good mood._

_"Have you talked to your brother?" she snapped._

_"Why would I talk to my brother?" said Michael._

_Veronica gave him a look that could kill. _

_"He's in trouble Michael."_

Clearly, this was the part of the story when Michael found out that Lincoln was arrested for murder. I thought to myself that I would have to track down Lincoln later so I could hear his side of the story. I signaled for Michael to continue. Michael explained that when he first started visiting Lincoln, they would just argue because Michael believed that Lincoln was truly guilty. The evidence couldn't be overlooked, and Lincoln had owed somebody like 90 grand. How could he not be guilty?

_After he started visiting with Lincoln, Michael wanted to do some background checks just to be safe. He would meet Veronica for coffee or lunch, and they would discuss it. She was working day and night on Lincoln's case, and Michael felt just a twinge of jealousy. She was so devoted for time Lincoln when he possibly had so little time left. _

_"The papers have pretty much crucified Lincoln," she said after a sip of coffee._

_Of course, they crucified him. He was involved with various crimes throughout the city. Why wouldn't the papers release that information? Michael was just toying with his coffee._

_"Maybe you should be looking at this subjectively," he suggested._

_Veronica looked like she could smack his across the face._

_"Maybe you should too. He is your brother Michael."_

_Michael smirked to himself. Here was the card everyone was trying to play. He is your brother help him Michael. You can't abandon family. Michael was already sick and tired of everything having to do with Lincoln. _

_"He's changed Veronica. He is not the guy you knew from three years ago."_

_Veronica rolled her eyes._

_"You really want to know what that 90 grand was for. Fine it was for you," she stated._

_Michael nearly choked on his coffee. What did she mean that the money was for him? Michael didn't need any money, and especially not from Lincoln. That was dirty money._

_"Your mother never had life insurance. Your brother paid for you to get through school. To get your degree. To get this job and your fancy apartment."_

_"What? How?" was all Michael could mutter._

_"He borrowed it because he thought you deserved it. And he knew that you would never accept it if you knew what he did."_

_Michael looked as though he may be sick. Now everything Lincoln had said finally made sense. Not everything is what it seems. If Lincoln paid for everything, that meant that Michael is where he is today because of his brother. And more importantly, Lincoln was where he was because of Michael. Guilt instantly started pouring through Michael. Why had Lincoln never told him about this? If he had known that was what the money was for, he would gladly pay it back. _

_He had been acting like the worst brother lately, and now he might never get the chance to repay Lincoln for everything. Somehow he would have to change that. He needed to talk to Lincoln._

"_Why didn't you ever tell me about the money?" Michael asked Lincoln._

_Lincoln only shrugged his shoulders. _

_"It didn't seem to matter."_

_Michael sat there watching his brother and started to feel guilty again. Maybe Lincoln wouldn't even be in prison anymore if he didn't own those people money. Lincoln tried to hide it, but he was glad that Michael finally found out about the money. He hoped that Michael could see how much Lincoln sacrificed to better his life. But something was bothering him. There was only one person that could have told Michael._

_"How's Veronica?"_

_Michael couldn't hold back a smile._

_"She misses you very much. And she is working on your case."_

_"It's probably good that she got out when she did," said Lincoln blankly._

_Michael knew that Lincoln didn't really mean that. He cared for Veronica very much, and he would give probably anything to see her again. _

_"You know how she feels about you. You guys have been that way since you were kids."_

_Lincoln smiled and nodded his head in agreement. Again, Michael felt just the slightest twinge of jealousy at the feelings between Lincoln and Veronica. Would he ever find somebody to share those feelings with?_

_"Lincoln, I need to apologize," whispered Michael._

_Lincoln cocked his head to the side confused._

_"That night you called, if I had just answered the phone I could have stopped you."_

_"Michael stop. This isn't your fault. You need to move on."_

_"I can't do that."_

_"Yes you can!," snapped Lincoln._

_Michael smirked. He and Lincoln both knew that Michael would not just move on and watch without a fight. _

_"Here's the thing. All the evidence points to you. So if you didn't kill Steadman, then who wanted to make damn sure to make it look like you did?" asked Michael._

_Lincoln gave a look that could be the million dollar question. Later that night, Michael was sitting in his apartment going over all the details from Lincoln's case. Everything seemed to be air tight. How did they get all of this evidence on Lincoln? He flipped over some papers to reveal a paper crane. Michael had to laugh because Lincoln used to make these all the time when they were kids. There had to be something, no anything that Michael could do to help his brother._

My God, these stories were so intense. I figured that all of this stuff combined would make a pretty great TV show. All of these twists and turns were good entertainment. I think I finally realized why Michael feels guilty all the time, and was bent on getting Lincoln out of here. That money he owed was because he was helping out Michael. Lincoln pretty much gave up his life so that Michael could have his own. And now Michael was trying to return the favor. It amazed me at how incredible their relationship and loyalty to each other really was.

"Lincoln was right you know, it really wasn't your fault," I admitted.

Michael only shrugged his shoulders. No matter how many times people told him this, he wouldn't believe it until he rescued his brother.

"The rest of the story is pretty much self-explanatory," said Michael.

I cocked my head to the side and smiled to let him know that I would like to hear the story.

_Michael just couldn't let the trial go. There were so many things that didn't go as planned. There were people that could have testified that didn't, some evidence was left out, and he had a sinking feeling that the jury was corrupted. Lincoln stood there staring at his brother rant on and on about his case. It was starting to get on his nerves._

_"What part of move on don't you understand," snapped Lincoln. _

_Michael looked up and shut his folder. He didn't realize that Lincoln was tired of hearing about this. _

_"When we were kids, I always had trouble sleeping because you were never there. But every morning I would wake up and find these paper cranes waiting for me. I knew it was your way of checking up on me," said Michael._

_Lincoln smiled because he could remember those days well. He wasn't always the best brother to Michael, but he always tried his best to look out for him. That is why Lincoln chose the crane in the first place. It meant to look out for the ones you care about. Michael pulled out a paper crane that he made and held it out in front of Lincoln._

_"I guess now it's my turn to watch out for you," he whispered._

_Lincoln smirked and just stared at the crane. He didn't know how Michael would look out for him while he was in prison. _

_"I will see you the same time tomorrow," said Michael standing up. _

_"No, they are moving me to a different prison to await my execution. A place called Fox River."_

_Michael nearly fell over. He wasn't quite sure that Lincoln said Fox River. It couldn't be that simple could it? Suddenly, the wheels started turning in Michael's head. Suddenly, things didn't seem so hopeless after all. During the next few days, Michael could think of nothing else besides Fox River. He happened to work with the guy that helped design the place, and he knew for a fact that he kept the blueprints in his office._

_Michael stayed late working one evening, and when he was finally alone he snuck into the office. It took him about an hour of digging through files, but he finally came across the one about Fox River. He slipped it inside his coat and went on his merry way. _

_Michael knew it was time to start his plan, so he took a big blueprint of the prison and tacked it to the wall. Michael spent the rest of the night trying to memorize these blueprints, but no matter what way he came up with, they were too extensive to try and remember. Some of the hallways were so similar that it was almost impossible to tell the difference. One wrong move and the whole plan would blow up in flames. He was starting to get a little frustrated. This was for Lincoln. He had to do this for his brother. He owed it to his brother. _

_He thought about punching a hole through the wall when something out the window caught his eye. It was a woman. But it was what the woman was wearing that caught Michael's attention. The woman was practically covered in tattoos. He turned back to look at the blueprints then back to the tattoos again. Suddenly, Michael got a very interesting idea. _

_Michael stayed up until the wee hours of the morning transforming the blueprints into clues he could put on as tattoos. To the naked eye they just looked like regular shapes and words, but to Michael they were so much more. Everything was starting to fall into place. He still needed the help of a few people inside. He got enough information on people like John Abruzzi, Warden Pope, and Sara Tancredi, that Michael was starting to believe that this plan could actually work._

_That morning, Michael was more than a little nervous. It was finally time to put his plan in motion. Everything was ready and Michael was prepared. He stared at the two guns for a long time. He had never been one for violence, so the idea of holding a gun made him nervous. That is why he had to choose a violent crime, but a simple one. Like robbing a bank. Yes, that ought to get him sent to Fox River so he could plan the escape of his brother. _

_It had to work._

That was it. The end of the story. All the pieces of the story finally made sense. This escape attempt only worked because Michael was able to get the blueprints for Fox River. If Lincoln had been sent to any other prison, Michael couldn't have done this. When he couldn't memorize the blueprints, he turned to tattooing them on his body. He had already planned out to use the help of Abruzzi, and Sara from the start. It was almost admirable that Michael didn't want to hurt anybody when he got sent to prison.

"Wow Michael you are either a genius or completely insane," I said completely serious.

Michael only laughed and stood up from his spot. We were getting ready to get called out for PI.

"Thanks for being honest with me Michael," I admitted.

He turned to look at me and held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me up from the bunk. I thought that if Tweener saw this he would probably freak out. Hopefully, Tweener didn't see this. Together we made our way out of the cells and eagerly awaited for Bellick to call out for PI.


	72. Chapter 72

It was a pretty boring day in PI today. The guards just wanted us to paint the walls of the break room this really terrible yellow color. I was standing next to C-note as we were alternating strokes. I was thinking about the stories that Sucre and Michael told me, and it made me wonder if C-note had a story like them. Then I remembered about his family that didn't know he was in jail, and the postcard from Iraq. I stopped painting in rhythm and turned towards C-note.

"You said that you would save your story for another day. Well today is another day." I offered.

C-note gave me a funny look. Of course he would think it was odd that I would just be randomly asking about his past.

"It's just that Michael and Sucre told me about their time before they came to Fox River, and I wanted to know about yours."

"Alright snowflake calm down, I will tell you," C-note teased.

_Whereas it was extremely cold in Chicago, it was morbidly hot in Kuwait. The soldiers were doing their best to keep cool while they were unloading a truck full of supplies. Benjamin Miles Franklin was supervising because this shipment had to be perfect. He was able to get most of these supplies for his superior, who would then transfer him out of the danger zone. He had his family to think about after all. He wanted to make a special delivery to his superior. _

_Benjamin opened the case showing ice cold beer and plenty of it. The other soldiers would go crazy if they knew that there was cold beer in here. The commander smiled down at the refreshing drink, then brought his attention to Franklin. When he first came to Commander Meyers with a proposition to get moved, he thought Franklin was crazy. Meyers used that to his benefit so he could smuggle alcohol in here. He was pleasantly surprised when he noticed that Franklin came through._

_"Nice work Franklin, I put you down working where they keep the prisoners," said Meyers._

_"Thank you sir," Benjamin said saluting._

_A week later, Benjamin was just taking a stroll through the prison. He was really enjoying when he got transferred. It was by far less dangerous. He took a few minutes out of the day to think about his family. It wouldn't be long until he finally got to see his beautiful wife and daughter again. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he thought he heard screaming. _

_He followed the source of the scream until it was getting louder and louder. Benjamin got his gun ready just in case. He found the man screaming was tied to a chair with a bag over his head. There were two other soldiers that were administering shocks to the prisoner. He let out a blood tingling scream once again. Benjamin knew that this was wrong. Even though they were the enemy, they didn't deserve to be treated like this. He had to do something._

_Benjamin was definitely a little nervous when Commander Meyers said he wanted to see him. Was there a problem with the alcohol he was supplying? He approached but Meyers didn't say anything for a while. Benjamin was starting to get worried._

_"Was there a problem with the wine sir?" he asked._

_Meyers smirked and shook his head no. Actually, the wine tasted just fine. _

_"No Franklin I called you in here to discuss this prisoner abuse charge you filed."_

_Benjamin could feel a dry lump form in the back of his throat. He was a little nervous when he first filed his charge, but he felt like it was something he had to do._

_"I need to know how far you are willing to go this?" asked Meyers. _

_"Whatever it takes sir. I don't have any love for the desert donkeys, but they don't deserve to be treated like this."_

_"We could get in serious trouble if the word gets out about this," scolded Meyers. _

_"What I saw was wrong sir."_

_Meyers sighed and signed his name on a piece of paper. He signaled for two other officers to enter the tent. _

_"Officers take Mr. Franklin into custody. I hereby recommend that he be dishonorably discharged from the service."_

_Benjamin felt his heart drop into his stomach. What the hell was going on? He was only doing the right thing. _

_"You can't do this. For what?" shouted Benjamin._

_Meyers smirked and responded calmly._

_"For participating in trade of the black market."_

_Benjamin couldn't believe this was happening. His commander asked him to get all of that stuff, and now he was being punished for it. He knew that Meyers was only doing this to save his reputation about the prisoner abuse, but to discharge him from service? He had a family to take care of. What would his wife think of him after this? He would never be able to admit this to her. _

_"Please sir you cannot do this!" shouted Benjamin._

_Meyers simply ignored his pleas and the officers dragged him off took him into custody. _

I couldn't believe what I just heard. I never would have guessed that C-note used to be in the military. I was completely absorbed in the story that I had stopped painting, and paint started dripping on the floor. C-note laughed at me.

"That's terrible what they did to you," I said disgusted.

C-note scoffed like he heard it all before.

"It doesn't matter now does it? It isn't like I can stop them."

My eyes dropped to the floor at C-note's hostile words. I could tell that he was clearly still upset about what happened to him. That still didn't quite explain why he never told his family, or why he still was carrying postcards from Iraq. Apparently, the story wasn't over yet.

_Benjamin had been back in Chicago for about two weeks, and he had yet to see his wife. He was too humiliated to tell his wife what happened. Luckily for him, he was able to keep in contact with his wife's brother, and he met him this morning. _

_"How long do you think you can keep up this act?" The brother asked. "Sooner or later she is going to find out."_

_"She won't find out as long as I can find a job to provide for her. The problem is no one wants to hire someone with a dishonorable discharge," complained Benjamin._

_"I happen to know of a few job opportunities if you're interested."_

_Benjamin scoffed. He knew what his brother in law did for his money, and there was no way in hell he was going to stoop that low. He couldn't go from being a military officer to a common criminal. This wasn't how his life was supposed to go. _

_"Man all you have to do is drive the truck. It may be illegal, but it makes good money," countered the brother in law. _

_Benjamin didn't say anything and just thought about what he was being offered for just a moment._

_He hated to admit it, but he actually enjoyed driving the truck around. It was an easy job, and his brother in law was right, it was good money. No one ever told him the details of what they were doing, and he didn't ask. The less he knew the better. Tonight was just like any other night. That was when Benjamin started to sweat when he saw those infamous red and blue lights flashing in his rearview mirror._

_Benjamin took a deep breath as he watched his beautiful family. Not only did they not know that he had been discharged, but now he was headed for prison. How could they accept a criminal into their family? It was too late to turn back now because his daughter just caught sight of him. Seeing that little girl smile made his whole world seem brighter. And his wife was one of the most beautiful women he has ever met. He sat them both down so he could break the news. He saw the terrified look on his wife's face, and he realized that he couldn't do it._

_"I just found out today that I am being shipped back off to Iraq," he lied._

_His daughter held onto him tighter screaming in protest. He could see the tears starting to form in his wife's eyes. He didn't want to lie to his family, but he was too ashamed to admit the truth. He kept trying to reason with his wife that he would be fine, but he was terrified that she would discover the truth. He had already reasoned with his brother in law to help him with this lie. They vowed together that they would do whatever it takes to make sure that his wife and daughter would never find out. They would never find out that he was being sent to Fox River. _

My mouth was opened wide and I thought that my jaw may have hit the floor. This guy had pulled off the ultimate deception. He didn't tell his family that he had been discharged from the army or that he was sent to prison. How long has he been keeping up this charade? That certainly explained two things. One, why he needed those postcards, and second why he was so desperate to get out of here. It kind of made me think about why he even ended up in here.

He didn't do anything wrong to get discharged from the army, and he certainly didn't do anything violent to end up in prison. He just wanted to get home so he could be with his family again. Was that so wrong?

"That's a terrible story," I said, "but thanks for telling me.

I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but he only responded by telling me that I was getting paint on my shoes. I shrieked and quickly put the brush back to the wall. I kind of forgot that the others were painting with us, so they heard C-note's story too. I looked over to Tbag who was just staring at me. It was creeping me out just a little bit. I don't even think he was blinking, he was just staring at me. I considered saying something, but Westmoreland came into the room saying a badge was on his way in. We all acted coolly when Geary came into the break room.

"Laney come with me," he ordered.

My eyes widened a little at the thought of being alone with Geary. The guy creeped me out a little. He rolled his eyes at me.

"The doc wants to see you."

Oh joy, like that would be much better. I put down my paint brush and followed Geary out the door.


	73. Chapter 73

Who the hell even knows why she asked me in the first place? She probably wanted to make sure I wasn't flirting with Michael, even though she admitted to having no feelings for him. I sat down in my chair waiting for her to see me. She filed into her office and was sifting through some papers, not even acknowledging my existence. I scoffed loud enough for her to her. She finally looked up at me.

"Ah Laney, how are you today?"

Was she serious? She called me up here to chat and gossip like girls.

"I'm good," I responded blankly.

She gave me a weird look, and I returned it back. She was the one who brought me here, so I wasn't going to be the one that provided the conversation.

"How is Michael doing since his attack?"

I tried to hide my smirk. So that is what this whole thing was about. She didn't want to see how I was doing, she wanted to know about Michael, but was too proud to speak to him herself.

"I think he is ok," I said, but then an idea came into my head, "in fact during PI he was just telling me about his time before he was sent to Fox River."

Her face started turning a little red. I had to choke back my laugh. I hated to be this mean, but it was kind of fun to see her squirm with jealousy.

"Did you always work in Fox River?" I asked innocently.

Her eyes immediately dropped to the floor. That caught my interest. Did she have some dark, dirty secret she wasn't sharing with me? I wasn't taking my eyes off of her until she told me what was going on. Sara sighed and looked back up to me.

"Can you keep a secret?" she whispered.

I quickly nodded my head. This story had to be juicy if I was swearing secrecy. I leaned in closer as she started to speak.

_It was a long night at the hospital. Doctor Sara Tancredi was checking the hallways making sure everything was alright. As soon as she checked, she could head to the supply closet for some relief. Her last few steps were fast paced and she rounded the corner. She quickly used her key to get into the supply closet and locked the door behind her. The last thing she needed was someone coming in on her. She quickly fiddled with the shelves until she found the bottle she was looking for._

_Morphine. _

_Sara pulled out her needle and quickly prepared to give herself an injection. She had had a stressful day at work and desperately needed this release. It hurt a little bit when she first injected herself, but she could instantly start to feel the effects. The world around her started to go blurry, and she loved every minute of it. She started to feel very very tired. She let the effects wear off before returning to work, and acting as though she had made a trip to the bathroom._

_Sara was walking down the sidewalk with her current boyfriend. He was just as much of a junkie as Sara was. She let go of his hand to start reaching for something in her bag. _

_"I brought you a gift from the hospital," she sang._

_She handed over some needles and morphine she had stolen from the hospital. Luckily for her, she had shot up before she met her boyfriend. _

_"I swear it's like Christmas," he teased._

_She laughed and turned around so she could face him. Even though, she really couldn't make out the features of his face, she found his lips and planted her lips on his. He eagerly responded and wrapped his arms snuggly around her waist. In the background they heard a car screech, then several screams. Sara wanted to see what the commotion was about._

_Her eyes went wide when she saw that a young boy was riding his bike and got hit by a car. He wasn't moving. A woman was screaming for help. Sara couldn't focus her attention on everything that was happening. The woman saw Sara's medical bag and desperately started pleading with Sara to help. She couldn't focus though, how was she supposed to help? She knelt down by the kid's side, but didn't move. The other woman didn't understand why she wasn't helping if she was a doctor. _

_Sara's boyfriend knew he needed to get Sara out of there. He picked her up off the ground and tried to take her away. She was feeling a mixture of guilt and embarrassment. She was so strung out that she couldn't help the poor kid. She broke free from her boyfriend and dropped to the ground. Her hands covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face._

_She needed to get help._

_Sara sat in her familiar chair in this familiar circle. Ever since that poor incident with the boy, Sara did her best to get help. She had been clean now for about 18 months, and this group was definitely helping. He got fired from the hospital, but luckily she didn't lose her medical license. She also dumped her boyfriend. She realized that is was time for a fresh start. Now also she needed was a new job. After the meeting, she decided to stay and help clean up. One of the other members, Brad Bellick approached her._

_"I might know of a job opening in need of a doctor," he said._

_"Oh really, what's that?" she asked curious._

_She thought that she would never be able to find another job that allowed her to be in the medical profession, and here one was being thrown into her lap._

_"Fox River," he said shyly. _

_Sara gave him a confused look. She never considered working at a prison before. The more she thought about it, the more appealing it was starting to become. In a way she thought that the inmates were just like her. Lost. Maybe she could help them get from the bad places in their lives to something better. Fox River seemed like the perfect place to start._

This was totally not the story I was expecting. I couldn't believe that this bitch used to be a junkie. Wait used to be? How did I know that she wasn't back using? She had the free access to it. By her look of hopelessness after telling that story, however, I doubted she was still using drugs. Her eyes were staring into mine as she was waiting for me to say something.

"Um, I don't really know what to say," I whispered.

Now it was Sara's turn to smile. She probably thought that at least if I couldn't say anything than I wouldn't judge her. Well, I wouldn't judge her to her face. Still, I had to admire the fact that she was able to get clean and sort of turn her life around. I wouldn't consider working with a bunch of insane murderers a fresh start.

"So what did Bellick ask for in return for getting you this job," I teased.

Sara wrinkled her nose and smirked at me. Now we really were laughing like gossiping girls.

"He did ask me to dinner," she said through her laughs.

I giggled again as a separate thought entered my mind. I pictured that Bellick would sit in on these meetings just trying to find helpless girls that he could hit on. This was the kind of sad life he led. I looked back over to Sara who was looking back at me with a forced smile. I knew she started thinking about Michael again. I let out a sigh and looked at her again.

"I will keep an eye on Michael for you," I told her.

She smiled big at me like it was the biggest favor I could ever do for her. No matter how much she tried to deny it, it was obvious of her feelings for Michael. I guess that was the end of our girl time because a guard came in to escort me back. I gave Sara once last smile before I left the medical wing.


	74. Chapter 74

We only had a few more minutes left in the yard, and the guys were still working in the break room. They didn't even need me in there so I was just wandering around. I was running my fingers along the fence when a familiar face caught my eye.

"Lincoln!" I shrieked and ran over to where he was on the other side of the fence.

He smiled as he watched me approach him.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess the warden decided to let me out for some fresh air. Still no PI, though," he said.

I saw the look of frustration in his eyes. It was going to be really difficult to escape if they couldn't get access to Lincoln. I doubted that Michael had an infinite number of ways he could get Lincoln into the medical wing.

"So, Michael told me about what happened to you," I whispered.

He looked back at me confused for a moment, but then registered what I was referring to. I could see the darkness return to his eyes. It was clearly still a sore subject for him to even think about.

"But anyway, I thought that maybe I could hear the story again from you?"

He looked at me and I knew that the answer was going to be hell to the no. I don't even know why I asked him, of course he wouldn't want to tell me.

"It's a long story, do you have enough time?"

My eyes lit up as I looked up at Lincoln. He was looking at me trying to decide the best place to try and start his story. It turned out he started right after Michael helped him find his keys.

_Lincoln watched his brother storm off and angrily jammed his key into the door. He barged into his apartment, but realized that several lights were already on. He knew that he had shut them all off when he left, and then it hit him that he wasn't alone. He rounded the corner to see one of his least favorite people sitting on his couch. _

_"Long time no see Lincoln," he said with a smirk._

_Lincoln rolled his eyes and moved further into his apartment. He hid it well, but on the inside he was crawling with nerves. He owed this guy a lot of money, and if he was here to collect then Lincoln would be in deep shit. _

_"Man I know I owe you and everything, but I don't have it right now," said Lincoln. _

_The man only laughed._

_"That debt has already been paid."_

_"By who?" asked Lincoln with curiosity._

_"That would be me, Linc," came another familiar voice._

_Lincoln turned his eyes over to look at the face of Nick. He had worked previously for Nick doing all kinds of stuff that people would not want to know the details of. _

_"So now it seems like you owe me," said Nick slyly. _

_"Fine I will get you the money by tomorrow."_

_Nick scoffed._

_"Now Lincoln you and I both know that you can't get your hands on that kind of money." He smiled wickedly, "but there is something else you can do for me."_

_Nick gestured for Lincoln to take a seat, and Lincoln unsure of anything else he could do, followed the order, and listened to what Nick was going to propose. It didn't take long after Nick started talking for Lincoln immediately start to regret listening to his idea._

_"No way Nick, I'm not killing anyone," he stated matter-of-factly. _

_"I must have missed the part where I gave you a choice," growled Nick._

_They both stared at each other in some sort of face off. They had never gotten along since Lincoln started working for him. _

_"This is not a good guy Linc. He has hurt a lot of good people. So, you can do this willingly, or I can find someone in your life who you will do it for," he threatened._

_Nick handed a piece of paper over to Lincoln. He reluctantly took it and twiddled it between his fingers. He wanted no part of this, but he couldn't risk Michael's safety. Or worse, what if Nick found out about Veronica? He refused to let anything bad happen to her. That is why he cut off all communication with her when he started working for Nick. _

_Nick offered to give Lincoln a ride to the right destination. The whole way there, Lincoln couldn't believe he was about to do this. He had never killed anyone before, what if he screwed up? He told Nick that he needed some air and stepped out on the sidewalk alone. Lincoln did the only thing he could think of. He dialed Michael's cell phone._

_If anyone knew how to get out this situation, it would Michael. He always had a level head about these things. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Lincoln started to get a little worried when he didn't pick up after the fourth ring. His heart dropped when it went to Michael's voicemail. _

_"Michael it's me. I need your help bro. I am in some really deep shit. I can't get out of it. I need you to help me straighten up. Look the point is, I need you to call me right now!" said Lincoln. _

_He hung up the phone and worriedly looked up at the sky. He shivered at the cold night and prayed that Michael would call him back._

_Unfortunately, that night Michael would never call him back. Nick came out to find Lincoln and questioned whether he was stalling or not. Lincoln knew there was no turning back now and Nick showed him the nearby parking garage. Earlier that evening, Nick gave Lincoln a couple of options for which gun he would like to use. Lincoln tried them both out, but it didn't matter which one he picked. He would never be comfortable doing this. _

_Lincoln was hiding behind a wall in the parking garage. He was freaked out so much that he was shaking. He needed to relieve this stress. Luckily for him, he still had an old joint in his pocket. After taking a few puffs of that, he was calmed down. He turned around and eyed the car that this guy was supposed to be in. He dropped the joint on the ground and started stalking over to the car. He pulled out his gun and put his finger on the trigger._

_Pointing the gun upward, he approached the driver's side. The window was down so he could just shoot him like that. When he looked in the window, his hand started to shake uncontrollably. There was a guy sitting behind the wheel, but he had already been shot in the head. He was lying dead with his head resting on the steering wheel. There was blood everywhere._

_Lincoln nearly smiled. He thought that this was great. If he made Nick think he killed this guy, then he could be off the hook, and he never had to actually kill anyone. He quickly ran over to take some of the guy's money (he wouldn't be needing it) and sprinted out of the parking garage._

_Lincoln had never run so fast in his entire life. He rounded the corner quickly trying to get as far away from that parking garage as he could. He wasn't even watching where he was going. He plowed through two groups of people. He blew by one guy, and he started screaming in Spanish, but Lincoln kept running and never looked back._

_It didn't take long for the police to catch Lincoln. They had all the evidence they needed to make an arrest. Every time he thought about calling Michael for help, he chose not to. If Michael had really wanted to help him, then he would have returned his call that night. Lincoln had spent about a week in jail before he had his first visitor. He never thought he would see the day when Michael would visit him. _

_"Michael, I'm glad you came," said Lincoln._

_"Don't," snapped Michael._

_Lincoln looked absolutely shocked at Michael's hostility. Why did he even come if he was going to act like this? Both brothers took a seat from opposite sides of the glass. It took a minute for Michael to say anything._

_"Terrance Steadman Lincoln, really? He is the Vice President's brother!"_

_"I didn't do it Michael."_

_"Do you have any idea what they are going to do to you?"_

_"It doesn't matter because I didn't kill him."_

_Michael scoffed._

_"You worked for his company from which you were fired a few weeks ago," he said._

_Now Lincoln was really starting to get pissed out. Michael had no right to come in here and start accusing him of something._

_"Michael you sound like one of the detectives. Do you think I did it?"_

_Michael's eyes dropped to the floor. That was all the answer that Lincoln needed. He couldn't believe that his own brother thought he was capable of something like this._

_"You owed someone 90 grand. Steadman had lots of money. You even admitted to the police that you were in that garage that night. What I am supposed to think?" whispered Michael._

_"I may be many things Michael, but I am not a murdered."_

_Michael sat there watching his brother for a moment. Lincoln did the same. Lincoln didn't want to just sit here and fight with Michael. _

_"I'm sorry Lincoln, but I don't feel sorry for you. When mom died, I took my half of the insurance and put myself through school. What did you do?"_

_Lincoln bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from saying anything. He could almost have laughed at the words that came out of Michael's mouth. Almost. If Michael knew anything about the truth, he wouldn't be acting like this. But Lincoln knew he could never tell. _

_"Things aren't always what they seem," Lincoln said._

_"I hope you're right," responded Michael._

_Lincoln was sitting at hopefully what was his final day in trial. Today, they would be hearing the verdict. He thought that Veronica had done the best she could, but the evidence was so stacked against him. It was completely unfair because he really didn't kill this guy. _

_"Has the jury reached a verdict?" asked the judge._

_When the head juror nodded his head in agreement, Lincoln felt his stomach drop. This was it, the moment of truth. Maybe by some miracle and by the grace of God, he would be able to get through this. _

_"We find the defendant, Lincoln Burrows, guilty of murder in the first degree."_

_Lincoln let his eyes drop to the floor. He really didn't expect otherwise. The evidence was just too good to overlook. Beside him Veronica reached out and squeezed his hand. He didn't respond. He couldn't do anything right now. He knew that Michael was sitting somewhere behind him, but he didn't know if had the courage to face him. The guards came to escort Lincoln away. He saw Michael stand up and move over to greet him. _

_Veronica followed behind and reached out for his hand again. When Lincoln took it, he flashbacked to when they were kids and they used to hold hands. He looked briefly over to Michael, but Michael was looking directly and their intertwined hands. If Lincoln didn't know any better, he would swear that Michael looked a little jealous. _

_"I'm sorry Linc," was all Michael said. _

_Lincoln only nodded his head and the guards took him away. _

Lincoln was right, that was a long story. By the time he was finished, I had moved from leaning against the fence to sitting on the ground. During the whole story, Lincoln never moved. He just said the whole story right then and there without taking a pause. I was a little surprised that his voice never faltered once because it was a very emotional story. Let's just say by the end of his version, I was full of questions.

"Do you think that if Michael answered your phone call he could have stopped you?" I asked.

Lincoln finally broke his eye contact and looked down at me. He looked like he really didn't think I would ask questions. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know Laney, and it doesn't really matter now," he said.

I wondered if Lincoln knew that Michael was with Veronica that night, or if he knew that they almost kissed. I wasn't about to ask him that, though.

"What happened to Nick? Did they track him down?"

Lincoln shook his head no.

"They didn't need to. They had enough evidence to convict me and they wouldn't believe me when I told him that I was set up."

I finally stood up and turned so I was facing Lincoln. I could the earnestness in his eyes mixed with a little sadness. It was in that moment that realization hit me.

"You really didn't do it did you?" I whispered.

He nodded his head at me. Everything around me started to spin. Lincoln was innocent, and he didn't deserve to die. Who was I to try and stop Michael from trying to break his brother out? My job was to try and get some information on Abruzzi, and he wasn't even here. There was no point in me staying here anymore.

"Laney are you ok?" asked Lincoln.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him. I smiled and nodded my head at him.

"Thank you," I muttered.

Lincoln didn't have a chance to respond.

"Colllins, what the hell are you doing out here?" shouted Geary.

I jumped at the sound of my name and turned around to face Geary. It was a really bad face. He didn't give me a chance to answer.

"I didn't realize that PI was paying you to stand around and talk to Mr. Burrows. I wonder what the other guys in that break room would think?"

I shook my head back and forth like I didn't know the answer. He grabbed me by the upper arm and started pulling me away. I looked back to Lincoln with apologetic eyes as Geary led me back to the break room. He so rudely pushed me back into the break room where the guys were looking at me with confused looks.

"Are you ok mami, you were in the medical wing for a long time?" asked Sucre.

"Yes I am fine. I ran into Lincoln out in the yard," I explained.

Michael looked up at me with wide eyes and marched over to where I was standing. He wanted me to repeat what I just said.

"The warden let Lincoln out for a little fresh air, but they aren't letting him back on PI."

All of the guys let out an annoyed sigh. They had just a little bit of hope that the escape was going to get a little easier. I shattered their hope.

"Well it wasn't a complete waste. He told me about what happened to him before he was arrested."

I heard C-note scoff and Tbag was giving me that weird stare again.

"What is this, flashback week?" C-note asked.

I gave him a dirty look. It wasn't my fault that I was so curious. Heaven forbid that I cared about these people and I wanted to know what their lives were like before all of this. I would have told him off, but Westmoreland came hurrying into the room. A guard was coming. I could tell what time it was, and we were supposed wrap it up for the day. He didn't have to tell me twice.


	75. Chapter 75

**A/N: Here is the next chapter for you guys. I wanted to let you know that my course work is starting to pick up a little and it is taking all my writing time away. I just wanted to let you guys know that I probably won't be able to update for a couple of days. =( Hang in there, I won't abandon you. I would rather wait a few days to give you good quality chapters, than to post crappy ones just so I can update every day. Feel free to review or message me (they always make me smile). Enjoy =)**

I tried to hurry as best I could back to my cell. This day was so emotionally intense with all of these stories, and I just wanted to go snuggle with Tweener. I don't think that I was back inside for 3 seconds before strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist and yanked me backwards. I was slammed against a wall and was looking up at Tbag alone in his cell. Oh no, here we go again.

"I couldn't help but notice Laneykins that you were asking about everyone's back stories."

I raised my eyebrows and shook my head yes. I didn't understand what the big deal was.

"You didn't ask me?" he growled.

I went to move away from him.

"Sorry T, I didn't realize you had a story. I just assumed you killed a bunch of kids and then got caught."

Tbag responded by pushing me back into the wall and grabbing ahold of my face.

"I'm going to show you just how wrong you are," he whispered.

_A simple family of three was setting the table for dinner. It was a mother, her son, and her daughter. The mother was especially excited because her new friend was coming over for dinner yet again. Actually, he was a little more than just her friend, but for her kid's sake that is what she refers to him as. She could hear her heart thump in her chest whenever she thought of him. He was such a wonderful, sweet, and kind man. He was also wonderful with children. _

_She heard the doorbell and immediately her face started to flush. She quickly finished putting the plates on the table._

_"You kids be extra polite alright?" she said moving towards the door._

_She checked herself out in the mirror to make sure she looked ok before reaching for the door. Her face lit up into a smile when she saw him standing just outside._

_"Evening Ms. Hollander," said Theodore Bagwell. "You look lovely this evening."_

_The dinner was absolutely delicious. Theodore couldn't get over how perfect this little family was. Especially the children. He could really get used to being around. While Susan was cleaning up, he was trying to teach little Gracie how to multiply numbers. Theodore had never been good with numbers. Words and reading were his best subject. He tried not to think about it because it only made him angry. He was able to smile though when he saw how excited Gracie got when she understood multiplication. Her excitement made Theodore excited. _

_Gracie ran off to show her brother her new trick, and Susan came into the room. She leaned down and planted a soft kiss on Theodore's lips. When she pulled away he bit his lip wanting a little more, but he knew he would have to refrain in front of the children. Susan moved back into the kitchen to finish the dishes. She had never felt this happy in a long time. She was watching her favorite show, "America's Most Wanted." She loved seeing the different freaks and psychos out there. She nearly dropped one of the plates when she saw Theodore's picture come up on the screen. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming when she saw his crimes. He was sitting in his chair watching her children. God, what was he thinking about them? Susan thought she was going to be sick. _

_Susan couldn't believe she was actually here. She didn't know why she ever agreed to it, but he sounded desperate on the phone. She decided to give him one last chance. She flinched when she saw Theodore emerge from the other side of the cage. She once used to think that he was attractive, but now he just looked menacing. It made her sick to think that she let this monster around her kids. Theodore had hated every minute since he arrived in Fox River. He didn't belong with these people. That was why he was so relieved to speak with Susan. _

_"I needed to confront this, so make it quick," she snapped._

_"Susan I never hurt you or your children," Theodore said calmly. _

_"I feel so betrayed Teddy."_

_"And I don't feel betrayed. The woman I came to love turned me over to the authorities. How do you think I feel about that?" he said._

_Susan shook her head. She wasn't going to let him make her feel guilty. If he really loved her then he would have been honest from the beginning. All she could see was a monster. _

_"It is by your love that I am a changed man," said Theodore tears brimming his eyes._

_"No. That isn't enough to change what you have done in the past," she said._

_Theodore nodded his head like she had a valid point. After all, he did murder six students down in Alabama. That part of him would never leave. He stuck out his tongue and twisted it around just enough for people to see it. He looked at Susan with nothing but evil in his eyes. _

_"You know I am going to get out of here someday, and when I do don't think that I won't remember what you front steps look like Susan," he threatened. _

_For a moment, Susan's eyes went wide with fear. Then she leaned forward and spat right in Tbag's face. It would have hit him if the glass hadn't been in the way. Theodore watched the woman he loved get up and storm out of the room. Visiting hours were over._

Tbag released my face when he was done telling his story. I massaged my sore jaw and was just staring at him. He looked like he was going to say something else, but before he got the chance I started laughing. I leaned against the wall and wiped my eyes.

"That's it? That's your story?" I said between laughs.

Tbag looked at me with angry eyes. Apparently, he really liked his story. I realized that I was going to have to explain this to him.

"Everyone else's stories were these emotional tales of love and betrayal. You threatened the woman that you supposedly "love" in your story," I giggled.

Tbag looked absolutely deflated. I think he was expecting a vote of sympathy from me. How was I supposed to feel sorry for him? He killed a bunch of kids. I walked forward and placed my hand on Tbag's shoulder.

"Thanks for the story though, it really cheered me up. "

Before I let Tbag respond or hurt me in anyway, I stormed out of his cell without a second thought.

I was practically running when I found out that I had a visitor. My eyes lit up even more when I saw Melanie sitting at the opposite end of the table.

"Melanie! It's great to see you," I said approaching her.

She smiled, but didn't get up from her spot. I bit the inside of my cheek because that meant she was all business. And that was never a good sign.

"So Laney it has been a few days. I just wanted to check in and see how things were going," she said.

What she meant was she was wondering if I found anything else out about the escape, and if I decided when I was going to bust them. I looked down at my fingers on the table, and I realized she was tapping her foot waiting for an answer.

"Well, I was with Lincoln for his final visitation and I watched as he was seconds away from dying. Luckily, the judge ordered a stay of execution. However, it wasn't enough to exonerate him, and they are executing him in like a week and a half. So the escape is still going on."

She raised her eyebrows at me. I think she was surprised at how much detail I actually had. If I had it all documented, then I would definitely have enough to bust them all.

"Have you been writing in your journal?"

I sighed angrily.

"You are starting to sound like my father, but yes I update it often."

Melanie shook her head like a job well done. I really didn't need this kind of attitude from my best friend. However, it was kind of nice to see a familiar face and I definitely needed to tell her some stuff.

"Melanie I don't know what to do anymore. Most of the guys told me their backstories today."

Melanie rolled her eyes. She knew where this was going.

"And now you are feeling guilty for preventing their escape? What, did they tell you how they need to get back to the loves of their lives?" she mocked.

I looked at her with shocked eyes. I couldn't believe she just said that.

"They are criminals Laney, and they belong in prison," she spat.

"These are not bad people, Mel. They are good guys who have had bad things happen to them," I reasoned.

"Really? Like that guy that almost stabbed you to death? Yeah, he sounds like a real charmer to me," she scoffed.

"Ok, Tbag is the exception, but most of these guys in here are innocent."

Melanie finally realized where this conversation was going. She angrily stood up from her chair and pointed her finger at me.

"Don't you even think about letting them get away with this! You are starting to cave Laney, and I think your new boyfriend is to blame."

Now it was my turn to stand up.

"Tweener has nothing to do this. In fact, he makes this whole experience enjoyable. You have no idea what it is like in here!"

"Then stop screwing around and do your job. The sooner it gets done, then you can come home and forget this whole thing."

I folded my arms across my chest, but I didn't respond. In the very back of my mind, I knew that Melanie was probably right, but I wasn't going to admit it. She moved around the table and rested her hands on my shoulders.

"You're so close Laney. Don't let them screw with your head," she whispered.

Melanie wrapped her arms around me in a secure hug. I hugged her back and when she pulled away she walked out leaving me to think about all of this all on my own.


	76. Chapter 76

**A/N: Aaahhhh I feel like the worst author in the world for not updating sooner! Thank you all for waiting so patiently! Feel free to leave a review or send me a message! Enjoy =)**

After my little discussion with Melanie, I went fuming back to Gen Pop. How dare she come at me like that. She was supposed to be my best friend, and the way she talked to me sounded just like my father. They didn't think I could handle this. They thought I would cave and not bust the guys on their escape. I would have to prove to them just how wrong they could be. And then all that stuff she said about Tweener. They didn't know anything about him, so how dare they make a f***ing judgment. I just needed to go back to my cell and clear my head, but before I could get there someone wrapped their arm around my shoulder.

"My sweet, sweet Laneykins. How are you?" asked Tbag.

I didn't know what Tbag wanted, and I really didn't care. I had bigger things to worry about than his little mind games. I pushed his arm off of me.

"Look, I am really really sorry T, but I am not in the mood for this right now," I spat.

I tried to move away, but he roughly grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me into his chest. I struggled against his hold, but he took his free hand and held my head in place as he bent down towards my ear.

"Now I forgave you for being rude to me in my cell after I shared my story with you, but you had better drop your attitude around me," he whispered.

I ripped my elbow out of his grasp and was just glaring up at him. This is exactly what I didn't need at the moment. I needed to clear my head, and think about what I was going to do about the escape, not stand here and fight with Tbag. I let out a sigh, and put my hands on my hips.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I uh…. I need to go speak with Tweener," I said.

Tbag raised his eyebrows with interest.

"Speak, huh? Is that what the kids are calling it these days? I just might have to use that one when the fresh meat come in," he joked.

I didn't laugh at his cruel joke, but slowly started to back away. I figured this might be my only chance, so I slipped away from Tbag and into my cell. I stopped dead in my tracks and all the blood drained from my face when I saw Tweener sitting on my bunk reading my journal I had hidden under the mattress. I felt lightheaded.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

He immediately looked up slamming the journal shut. He angrily got up off the bunk and started waving the book in his hand.

"What is this Laney? Is the stuff you write in here the truth?"

I didn't even know how to respond to that, so I just stood there in silence. Now it was Tweener's turn to grab my elbow and pull me further into the cell. I hated seeing that anger in his eyes, but he had just realized that I had been lying to him.

"It is true. And that means that all of the guys on PI, and the stuff they are working on in the break room. They are trying to escape."

There was no point in trying to deny it. He had seen the proof. I slowly nodded my head.

"Were you just going to go with them, and leave me here? Is that why you didn't want me on PI in the first place?"

For once, I could actually speak.

"No, that wasn't my call. I am not going to escape with them," I admitted.

"Then why bother writing it all down?"

I bit my lip trying to avoid the answer. Realization suddenly hit Tweener and he squeezed the journal harder in his hand.

"You're going to rat them out. This is why you didn't want me helping out Bellick because you wanted to do it yourself."

"No, Bellick doesn't know anything. I am doing this for the warden," I lied.

Tweener threw the journal and it landed against the wall and fell back onto my bunk. I flinched when it hit the wall.

"I am going to go up to Michael and demand that I get put on PI, or I am going straight to Bellick," he threatened.

Tweener started to move out of my cell. I could slowly see everything that I had been working on since I came here start to slip away. Tweener was going to take it all away. I quickly moved in front of him so I was blocking the doorway to the cell.

"You can't say anything. To anybody." I spoke.

He raised his eyebrow at me like he couldn't believe that I just said that.

"If Michael, or more frighteningly Tbag, found out that I was the one that told you about the escape, then they would kill me. And if you tell Bellick, and he busts them, I am as good as dead."

Tweener shook his head and started to move past me. In one last attempt, I spun around a clutched onto his hand. He turned around to look in my pleading eyes.

"Please Tweener, if you care about me at all, you can't say anything. Not to the guys, not to Bellick, not to the warden. Nobody."

Tweener's eyes were flickering back and forth between my face and my hand holding his. He couldn't make up his mind on what he wanted to do. My breath caught in my throat when a loud voice boomed out over Gen Pop.

"PI!" shouted Bellick.

I could see the guys start making their way out of the cells. I looked back to Tweener and he let go of my hand so he could walk back into our cell. I couldn't believe it. He wasn't going to say anything. I guess he really did care about me. Once he was inside the cell, he turned to look at me with a hopeless expression. With tears brimming my eyes, I mouthed a thank you before moving to find the stairs.

I fell in step behind Tbag and Sucre making our way outside. The other inmates were making their way back to their cells, so our paths crossed. One inmate in particular caught my eye. He was walking in front of us, well I don't know if he could even be classified as a he. He was acting more like a girl. He was wearing way too much makeup and had his shirt pulled up over his stomach. The most disturbing part was that he was wearing his pants so low that I could see his underwear. Except for the fact, that they were women's underwear. I cocked my head to the side with a disgusted look on my face. It didn't occur to me that I had actually stopped to stare until someone pushed my back roughly and I started moving again.

"You are being awfully rude today Laneykins," mocked Tbag. "Making fun of people, giving attitude, and now you are staring."

I didn't turn around to face him, I just kept on walking.

"Not that I blame you for staring. He catches the eye of most of the inmates in here. I guess he likes to tug on their pockets."

I snorted.

"So I take it he tugged on your pocket then?"

I heard Tbag let out a choke and I couldn't hide my smirk. He sped up his pace so we were walking side by side.

"Now even I have standards," he explained.

I tried my best to suppress it, but I let out a laugh. The thought that Tbag actually had standards was pretty funny. I guess then I should feel special that Tbag devotes so much of his attention to me because that means I pass his standards. I ended up shuddering at the thought. We were soon joined by the other guys, and for a moment I forgot all about my dilemma with Tweener.


	77. Chapter 77

Needless to say, Michael wasn't doing much work in PI today. He was just focusing on this piece of paper. We all knew what it was. He was trying to figure out the blueprints for the psych ward. The rest of us were working on painting the walls. I wondered how long it was going to take Michael to figure out the rest of the map. I had a feeling the guys wouldn't wait around forever, and Lincoln's date was slowly approaching.

"Michael why don't you just go back down to the psych ward again?" asked Sucre.

Michael sighed and put down his pencil.

"I can't. One, I don't have the guard's uniform anymore, and two it wouldn't matter because I am not supposed to be in the spot that I need to remember guard or not."

Sucre looked disappointed and looked over Michael's shoulder at his drawings. Whatever they were, I could tell that they went right over Sucre's head.

"Do you think you can remember it all?" he asked.

This time Michael slammed his pencil down. I jumped because I had never really seen Michael act like this.

"I won't if you keep hounding me," he snapped.

Ok, now who was the one that was being rude to people? I raised one of my eyebrows angrily at Michael before looking away. He needed to calm down or he was never going to figure out the rest of the blueprints. I turned my head the other direction when the door opened. A guard came in and told us to start wrapping it up.

"Good to see that you guys are almost done working in here," said the guard.

I think most of the guys nearly dropped their paintbrushes. What did he mean that we were almost done? If we lost our access to the break room, then the whole plan was shot.

"Not quite boss," explained C-note, "after we get finished painting, we still have to lay the carpeting."

The guard shrugged his shoulders.

"Bellick wants to bring professionals in to do the carpeting. I figure you have about a day left," the guard said before leaving.

Tbag was so frustrated that he tossed his paintbrush into the bucket and a little paint splattered out of it.

"Now we have a problem," he growled, "them boys come in here to do that carpet and our little hole is going to be smiling up at them."

Michael didn't seem fazed.

"We can just cover it up."

"No man, we just go through digging that bitch out," C-note whined.

I rolled me eyes at all the whiny children today. I put down my paint brush and started to make my way over to where Michael was standing.

"You can still cover it up," I explained, "just put in enough cement that the carpet guys won't notice."

Michael seemed to catch on to what I was trying to get at because he ended up finishing my sentence for me.

"And then we can just bus through it the night we escape."

That seemed to satisfy the other guys and they put down their paintbrushes and started getting the stuff ready to make the cement. C-note was the only who knew what he was doing in that area, so we let him be in charge of it. I leaned against the wall and just watched, but I could see Michael out of the corner of his eye give me a nod. He was grateful that there was somebody else in the group that could come up with solutions. I think he was getting tired of having to think of everything by himself.

I didn't realize, though, that when I made a suggestion, the guys would be quick to jump on board and get to work. Sucre and C-note were already in the process of mixing the cement. Tbag was continuing to paint the walls, Michael was sketching, and Westmoreland was out keeping watch. We were all working like a well-oiled machine. Suddenly, Westmoreland came hurrying into the break room and signaled to us that Bellick was on his way. Like always, everyone quickly jumped into action by covering the hole, and pretending to do work. Bellick opened the door and let out a whistle.

"It sure is looking nice in here, I am thinking about installing cable." He joked.

"All the porn you could watch," said Tbag.

I didn't even try to cover up my eye roll. Bellick scoffed at me and walked over to where I was standing. Of course, all he would be thinking about is watching porn.

"Uh-oh boys, I think princess here is offended about the porn idea."

Was he serious? He actually thought that I was upset at the thought of them watching porn. I thought about telling Bellick off and saying that it was just the thought of him getting off from watching porn that made me sick to my stomach, but I decided against it. No reason to start trouble.

"This ought to cheer ya up," he whispered. "You guys have been doing so good in here that I figured you could use an extra hand."

Everyone immediately turned their attention to Bellick. I was giving him a confused look, but everyone else was staring with wide eyes. They were concerned that they might have to include someone else in the escape, but I was wondering who Bellick was bringing in. He signaled for the other worker to get in here, and my eyes widened when he walked around the corner.

It was Tweener.

Instantly, I thought that Tweener had used what he found out to get himself on PI, but then I realized that if he told Bellick than none of us would be here right now. I could tell that none of the other guys were happy. Even Westmoreland, who was Tweener's old cell mate, looked displeased. Tweener's eyes met mine and I gave him a genuine smile. I was happy to see him, and I was happy that I would get to work with him. I just hoped that Michael wouldn't include him on the escape so I wouldn't have to get him into trouble.

"You boys should be as happy as Laney right now," mocked Bellick, "now get back to work."

Bellick shoved Tweener into the room and left all of us alone to decide what the next course of action was going to be. It was one of the quietest moments in PI ever. Nobody was willing to say anything in front of Tweener, so they were just pretending to do work. Even Michael put down his notebook and was busy painting. I still hadn't said anything to Tweener, but I was standing beside him painting. Every now and again he would look over in my direction and I would do the same. We would stand there for a few minutes just looking at each other. We only stopped looking at each other when Tbag would interrupt us with his humming. It was almost like he suspected something. Nevertheless, the guys already had a plan to get rid of Tweener.

"Man my paintbrush is getting all dried out and sticky," complained C-note.

The others agreed.

"Someone needs to take them outside and wash them off," suggested Michael.

I knew where this was going, but before I could say anything, Tbag slammed the bucket with the brushes into Tweener's arms.

"According to the rank, that would be you," he said.

Tweener looked a little defeated, but nodded his head in agreement. Michael explained how to clean them off, and they sent him on his way. Westmoreland stepped outside to make sure that Tweener wouldn't sneak up on them.

"I will go help him," I said starting to move towards the door.

Before I could open it, Tbag grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back. He shut the door and drug me back so I was standing in front of the table and he was blocking my way to the door.

"I don't think so Laneykins. Who knows what kind of secrets you might spill to little Tweener."

I looked at him with an annoyed expression. I knew he had been suspecting us of something. He thought that I had been telling Tweener all about the escape. The funny part was that Tweener already knew about the escape.

"I don't trust you. And I don't trust him. And I especially don't trust the two of you together," he spat.

I rolled my eyes.

"We share a cell together."

Tbag seemed to consider this for a moment before continuing.

"I can control you in here, but not in your own cell so listen to me. We don't need any more people in on the escape. So, if he finds out about it, then I am going to have to do something to prevent him from escaping or telling on us. Use your imagination Laneykins to tell me what that is."

I swallowed a dry lump in my throat. Basically, Tbag was threatening to kill Tweener if he found out about the escape. And the only way he would find out is if I told him. But what worried me was that Tweener already knew about the escape. I would have to find some way to prevent him from telling anyone because his life depended on it.

Another thing I thought was upsetting was that when Tbag made his threat, no one said anything against him. Not even Michael. They were really going to let Tbag kill Tweener if it came down to it. I pushed myself away from Tbag and leaned against the wall where I proceeded to pout. Having Tweener on PI wasn't going to be very much fun if I never got to see him. I wouldn't get to pout for very long because Westmoreland came hurrying back into the break room yet again.

"Got another badge."

More groans and complaints came from the others as once again we had to pretend to do some work. I didn't understand how the guards expected us to get this room done if they were always interrupting us. Officer Geary opened the door and inspected our progress in the room.

"Scofield, the warden and the doctor want to see you right now," he ordered.

Michael looked up confused as he put his paint brush down. There was no doubt in my mind that this had something to do with his burn. Sara was working extra hard to figure out who did this to him, and it didn't surprise me that she went to the warden.

"The rest of you cons can hurry up and finish up for the day."

Now it was everyone else's turn to look confused. We all assumed that we would have the rest of the day to work on this stuff.

"I want some yard work done before tonight," he explained.

Sucre looked back to Michael with a worried expression. If they couldn't work in the break room, then they couldn't fill up that hole. And if they couldn't fill up the hole, then the carpet guys would find it. Michael didn't look worried, though, and he gave everyone a look to let them know that he would get the deed done. If I had learned anything from my time here in Fox River, it is that when Michael says he is going to do something, he usually does it.


	78. Chapter 78

Despite the fact that Tbag tried to stop me, I was able to find Tweener as he was making his way back with all the paintbrushes in his hands. Before he dropped them all and had to go wash them all off again, I quickly hurried over and took a few from him. He smiled in appreciation. We took our time walking back to drop off the stuff. I could tell that he wanted to say something to me, but he wasn't sure of what to say. We had a pretty rough morning.

"Well, you finally made it onto PI," I said the breaking the ice.

"It would be great if the other guys weren't treating me like the black sheep."

I rolled my eyes.

"You know why they are acting like that," I told him.

Tweener smirked.

"I bet they wouldn't treat me like that if I told them what I know."

I stopped walking and looked up at Tweener. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. Tweener was too stubborn and he wanted to say something about the escape. I was too afraid that Tbag would keep his word and take Tweener out for knowing too much. Losing Abruzzi was hard enough, I didn't want anything to happen to Tweener either.

"If I asked you not to say anything, would you?" I asked.

Tweener looked down at me with a worried expression. He honestly didn't know what to do either. He cared for me and valued what I was telling him, but he was still angry with me for not telling him about the escape in the first place.

"Depends on the reason."

I sighed.

"Tbag threatened to hurt you if you found out because he doesn't want anyone else going."

Tweener's eyes widened at my confession. I don't think that he was expecting that. I decided that I would try and make him feel better.

"Trust me you don't want to be in on the escape anyway."

Now Tweener'e eyes flashed a bit of anger.

"Why should I trust you Laney? All you have ever done is lie to me since I first got here. How do I know when you are telling the truth?"

I was starting to feel sick at my stomach. I didn't like the fact that Tweener felt like he couldn't trust him. He didn't know that I didn't tell him any of this because I wanted to protect him. I was trying to fight back the tears I could feel coming on.

"We should get back to work," he said blankly.

I didn't respond, but he didn't wait for me to respond. He started moving again, and I was left standing alone. When I finally decided to start walking again, I went to go find the other guys. I desperately needed to take my mind off what just happened. I couldn't find the others but I did see C-note talking on the phone. He had some sort of cloth over the phone, so I figured he was talking to his wife. I didn't want to eavesdrop, so I took my time walking over there. He definitely looked stressed out. Whatever, they were talking about, it wasn't good. He was resting his head on the top of the phone, and was strumming his fingers along. When he finally hung up the phone, he turned around to see me watching him.

"Everything ok?" I asked.

C-note smirked to himself and started walking.

"It was my wife. She is getting all worried from not hearing from me."

I gave him a strange look.

"When you are the wife of a military man, you worry when you don't hear anything," he explained.

I nodded my head in understanding. I used to worry when I was younger when my father would be on an assignment. You never knew if it was going to be his last or not.

"Do you think you are ever going to tell your wife the truth?" I asked.

"Not if I don't have to."

"Won't she see it on the news or in the paper?"

C-note laughed at all of my questions.

"Stop worry snowflake, I've got everything under control."

I didn't really believe him, but I smiled anyway. I didn't think how he could stop his wife from finding out eventually. I wanted to tell him that if she really loved him, then she wouldn't care that he was sent to prison, but I kept my mouth shut. We just walked in silence back to where the rest of the guys were doing some yard work, well except for Tweener. I didn't know where he was. Sucre came hurrying over to where we were standing, and he looked panicked.

"I just heard from one of the guards that Michael got sent to the Shu," he said.

C-note angrily threw his shovel on the ground. This definitely wasn't a good day.

"Why did they send him?" I asked.

"They think that one of the guards burnt Michael, and when he wouldn't tell them who did it they sent him."

I rolled my eyes. Of course Sara would be trying to get to the bottom of this. She felt like she needed to protect Michael. She thought that going to the warden was helping, but it ended up doing a lot of damage that she didn't even know about.

"It is panic time boys. Michael was supposed to finish filling that hole tonight," complained Tbag.

I gave Tbag an annoyed look. He wasn't helping the situation any. He only grinned at me.

"It's clear who has got to fill it," said Tbag looking over to Sucre.

Sucre looked at the rest of us with a panicked expression. He was clearly just the lookout and Michael was the guy that did the work. He started shaking his head back and forth.

"You are the only one with the access through the toilet," said C-note. "Time to man up."

Sucre now just looked plain pissed off.

"Easy for you to say, your ass isn't the one on the line."

"All of our asses are on the line! You are the only one that can do anything about it."

Sucre didn't respond and the rest of us were just staring at him. He was starting to realize that maybe he had to do this.

"Even if I fill that hole, I would have to run all the way out in the yard to get back."

"Then you better run fast."

I was starting to get annoyed. C-note didn't have to be so rude about all of this.

"It's 10 years on my bid if I get caught," Sucre pleaded one last time.

"Then don't get caught," said Tbag.

They were both starting to piss me off. I was going to give them a piece of my mind, but the guards told us to wrap it up. The others left poor Sucre standing there alone, and they expected him to get the job done by tonight. I just hoped that if Sucre did do it, he wouldn't get caught.


	79. Chapter 79

I spotted Tweener back in the cells and I gave him a smile, but he didn't return it. I started to feel the painful pull in my stomach. I was going to have to do some major damage control. I turned my attention away to look at Sucre pacing back and forth. His hands were resting on the top of his head. I could tell that he was really bent out of shape about this so I wanted to help him through this.

"Hey Sucre," I said approaching him.

He looked at me and gave me a weak smile.

"Sorry about what happened during PI. Those guys shouldn't have attacked you like that."

At that he gave me a better smile.

"No worries mami, they were right."

"So are you going to do it?" I asked.

"I don't think I really have a choice."

I had to nod my head in agreement. C-note and Tbag would not be very happy if Sucre didn't come through with this. Especially if the carpeting guys come and find that hole. I hadn't noticed that Sucre had moved and was resting on the railing. When I tried to get his attention he was ignoring me and was staring at something. My eyes followed his gaze and he was staring at that guy that was dressed like a girl. I cringed when I saw that his underwear was showing from his pants again. I wondered why Sucre would be staring at him, and when I looked over Sucre was smirking.

"Are you alright?" I asked worried.

"I think I have an idea," he said.

He signaled for me to come closer so he could tell me what he was thinking.

I hurried back to my cell after I talked with Sucre. Hopefully if everything worked out, Sucre could fill that hole without worrying about getting caught. Plus, it would provide for a good laugh. Tweener was sitting on the top bunk and didn't move a muscle when I entered. God, how long was he going to act like this? I didn't do anything wrong.

"Stop trying to make me feel guilty," I shouted.

That got his attention. He sat up on his bunk and begged for me to continue. I hadn't really planned an argument out, so I bit my lip trying to decide what to say.

"I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty. You just think I am because you do actually feel guilty," he said calmly.

That fired me up and I stormed over to him.

"What reason do I have to feel guilty? I didn't do anything wrong!"

Tweener hopped down from the bunk and approached me.

"You feel guilty because you lied and you got caught in your lie," he scolded.

"No! This is you just trying to make me feel guilty. Did you ever think that I never told about this is because I didn't want you involved. Now gee, why wouldn't I want you to get involved? Oh yeah, that's right, because I actually care about you and I knew that it was dangerous. God forbid, I didn't want anything to happen to you!"

Tweener's eyes were wide with shock by the time I finished yelling at him. I didn't even wait for an answer before I stormed out of the cell. I stomped over to the railing and rested my hands against the top jutting my hip out to the side. My eyes were moving back and forth watching the other inmates when I noticed Tbag talking to Sucre. I couldn't hold back a smile when I figured out what they were discussing. Tbag's eyes went wide and he moved into the cell. He crashed onto the bunk and held his face in his hands. I was really trying to fight back my laughs. Sucre had told me his plan and if it worked, we would have a good laugh for a while. Sucre reasoned with Tbag again and he got up and left the cell. Sucre looked over to me and gave me a smirk. I knew I wouldn't want to miss this.

I watched as Tbag slowly made his way down the stairs and was approaching the other inmates. He was walking dreadfully slow. My eyes looked over to where that one inmate was strutting around. Tbag slowly snuck up behind him. Tbag snapped the back of the underwear hanging out of his pants. I snickered to myself at how disgusting this was. The two inmates were talking to each other when suddenly Tbag grabbed ahold of the other inmate and slammed him against the bars. Their heads were close together and they were whispering to each other.

My hands instantly gripped the bars tighter. I could feel anger starting to boil up inside me. Tbag was too close to that other inmate. Wait, this feeling inside me was familiar. I just couldn't remember where I felt before. I racked my brain trying to remember, when suddenly it hit me. It was Tweener's first day here and I was watching him sitting on the bleachers. Tbag came over and started tormenting Tweener, and when he touched Tweener's leg I growled with jealousy.

I thought I was going to be sick. I was jealous that that other inmate was so close with Tbag. I tried to turn my eyes away, but I couldn't. My eyes were glued to the spot. I couldn't be jealous of Tbag, I just couldn't. He has tried to kill me numerous times, among other terrible things. And yet here I was, gritting my teeth and bruising my hands watching the interaction. I almost lost control when they both moved into Tbag's cell.

I shut my eyes and my hands started to shake. I needed something to distract me from this. I didn't even know where I was going, but I just started moving. My eyes trained on Sucre and I didn't stop once until I was standing right in front of him.

"Are you alright mami, you look like you are going to be sick?" he asked.

I shut my eyes again and swallowed in my throat.

"I think I might be."

Sucre reached out and took a hold of my arm and sat me down on his bunk. I leaned over and rested my head on my knees.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I am a sick and twisted human being."

I heard Sucre laugh and started playing with my hair until I lifted my head back up. He was smiling at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Trust me Laney, I have met a lot worse people than you."

My smile faded a little. I wondered if he would still think that after I busted them all for the escape.

"I think I am slightly attracted to Tbag," I admitted.

Sucre's smile faded and he looked at me like he thought I was absolutely crazy. I was thinking the exact same thing.

"I wouldn't tell him that," Sucre finally said.

I raised one of my eyebrows at him.

"I don't want to be attracted to him, I don't even know why I am. It's not the same feeling that I get when I am around Tweener, but it's something," I explained.

Sucre nodded his head like he completely understood. I really didn't think he could. To admit to yourself that you are attracted to a monster that made you sick to your stomach. I thought about responding, but Tbag solemnly entered the cell before I had a chance. I immediately jumped up off the bunk and backed away from Tbag. In a way, I felt a little relief that he wasn't around that inmate anymore. Sucre smirked to himself and approached Tbag. He quickly held out his hand to Sucre and they passed something off to each other.

I suddenly remembered why Tbag was talking to that inmate in the first place. I couldn't suppress my smile and I slowly started to approach Tbag. I looked to see that pair of underwear resting in Sucre's hand.

"If you guys tell anyone about this so help me God," threatened Tbag.

I chuckled to myself and walked up so I was standing right in front of Tbag.

"You know T, if you needed a pair of girls' underwear, you could have just asked the actual girl inmate," I teased.

Tbag's eyes widened in realization and Sucre and I could no longer hide back our laughs. We gave each other high fives as our plan worked out perfectly. I put my hand up to my chest to try and stop myself from laughing any more. Tbag's eyes flashed a bit of anger.

"You two think you're funny? You owe me big time," he growled.

I rolled my eyes and moved closer to Tbag.

"Oh shut up that's what you get for being mean earlier today," I said.

I stood up on my tiptoes and put one of my hands on Tbag's cheek and lightly put my lips to the other cheek. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but Tbag's eyes lit up with confusion and excitement. I glanced back to Sucre who was grinning at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and left the cell.


	80. Chapter 80

I rejoined the others because I had some important information to give them. C-note, Tbag, and Westmoreland had just sent Tweener off to do some ridiculous task. All three of them looked up as I approached them.

"Nice of you to join us snowflake," scolded C-note.

I gave him a smile, but I really felt like flipping him off. I moved over to stand next to Tbag.

"Did you guys hear about Sucre?" I asked.

They all shook their heads. It was common knowledge that they caught Sucre out in the yard last night and he got sent to the Shu. Luckily for us, he was on his way back from filling in the hole.

"I guess it could have been a lot worse, but Tbag's little contribution saved the day," I teased.

The others quickly looked at me confused and I went to say more, but Tbag pulled me close to him and covered my mouth with his hand.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about," said Tbag.

I smiled against Tbag's hand, and the others immediately dropped the subject. Tbag removed his hand from my mouth and I stared up at him for a moment. He was giving me a glare, but when I grinned at him he smiled back.

"That's not all. The doctor told me that Michael had some sort of breakdown and was sent to the psych ward," I explained.

That got their attention. The guys were in an official state of panic. They knew that they couldn't pull this escape off without Michael, and if he had a break down, it could jeopardize the whole thing. Westmoreland put his hands over his head. C-note and Tbag both looked like they wanted to punch something. Probably me.

"I hope Sucre got that hole covered up real good because we might be here a while," spat C-note.

I nodded my head several times to let them know that I had full confidence that Sucre got the job done.

"Looks like we are gonna find out," said Tbag.

I turned my head to see a van starting to pull its way into Fox River. The carpeting guys were finally here to work in the break room. Everyone's breath caught as the van travelled down the road. Even Tweener was staring at the van. I wondered if he suspected that something was up. This was the moment of truth for us. Whether we would get busted or not was all at the hands of Sucre.

So far, so good. We had been working for another hour and nothing had flagged yet. So far, Sucre was a hero. I managed to sneak away from my work for a moment to go see Tweener. We hadn't really talked since last night when we both woke up on the floor.

"Hey," I said approaching.

He genuinely smiled at me.

"Hey there beautiful, are you as sore as I am?"

I giggled and nodded my head. Tweener proceeded to make a sexual reference to that and I responded by smacking his arm. Tweener then got very serious and looked me dead in the eye.

"Why were you guys looking terrified at the van earlier?"

Why did he have to be so curious about everything? I thought about avoiding the answer or lying, but I knew by his face that that wouldn't be the best idea.

"That van was full of guys that were putting the carpet down in the break room. They could have found the hole that I wrote about in my journal."

Tweener's eyes went wide and he nodded in understanding. I truly hoped that he really did appreciate my being honest with him. It was putting his life at risk to Tbag. Suddenly, a shadow casted over the both of us and I blinked a few times over the darkness. We both looked up to see a very huge and intimidating inmate standing over us. I shrieked and fell backwards landing on my butt on the ground. The inmate smirked at me then turned his attention to Tweener.

"Look at the two love birds. Are you two kids even old enough to be having sex?"

My face started to blush and I immediately looked down to the ground. I heard the inmate chuckle and Tweener defensively stood up.

"Why don't you just back the hell up," he spat.

The inmate smirked at the both of us again before leaving. I realized that my breathing had picked up because I was so terrified. Tweener looked down at me with concerned eyes.

"Tweener, who was that?" I asked.

Tweener shrugged his shoulders.

"His name is Avocado, that's all I know."

That really didn't make me feel any better. Tweener extended his hand out to me and I took it. He pulled me up and brought me close to him. I smiled when he placed a gentle kiss on my nose.

"Tweener, get over here," shouted Bellick.

I sighed and held onto Tweener a little tighter. Tweener looked a little worried as he let go of me and made his way over to Bellick. I suddenly became a little apprehensive. I hoped that Tweener wouldn't blab to Bellick what I just told him. Then my ass would be on the line. I would just have to trust him. I watched them talk for a little bit. Suddenly, Bellick's eyes flashed with rage and he stormed off for the break room. My breathing started to pick up again. This couldn't be happening. Did Tweener really just tell him everything? Tweener turned to walk back towards me and I could read the guilty expression on his face. I stared at him wide eyed. I felt sick. Tbag was going to kill me. I didn't even wait for Tweener to get back to me before I took off running in the other direction. I ran to the very edge of the fence and smacked my hands on it. I refused to take my eyes off of the break room. If Bellick found the hole, maybe there was a way I could convince him not to say anything and let me handle it. Somehow, I had a feeling that Bellick would rather take all the glory. My only hope was that somehow he didn't find that hole.

Finally the door to the break room opened, and Bellick came storming out. I didn't know what was scarier, Bellick going into the break room, or him coming out. I lost sight of him when the guards called us all to go back inside. I still felt like a was going to throw up, but I instantly felt relieved. I hurried back inside and up to my cell where Tweener was waiting for me. he started to speak but I quickly cut him off.

"What the hell is wrong with you," I seethed, "I'm honest with you and you turn around and snitch to Bellick!"

"I didn't tell him everything. I just hinted that they might be up to something in the break room."

"I'm not stupid Tweener. Like that is any better."

Tweener put both of his hands on my shoulders.

"What was I supposed to do, Bellick was threatening to put me in a cell with Avocado. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not Tweener, but.." I couldn't even finish my argument.

Tweener knew he had won this battle. I could see him trying to hide his smile. I was trying to stay mad at him, but I was feeling guilty. I didn't want anything bad to happen to Tweener and if him giving Bellick information kept him safe, then I was ok with that. Or was this Tweener just manipulating me? I couldn't get my thoughts together, and I looked back up at Tweener. I wanted to say something, but I jumped when Bellick came into the cell.

"Tweener pack up your things," he said angrily.

I turned back around to look at Bellick with a confused look and Tweener had nothing short of fear in his eyes. Bellick looked absolutely terrifying and he shouted at Tweener again to pack his things. We both jumped again and Tweener started moving to get his stuff.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"A cell transfer for Tweener here," Bellick spat.

"Why?"

"We had a deal, and Tweener didn't come through on his part."

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down. I knew something like this was going to happen. I turned my head so I was watching Tweener pack up his things. He was packing up slow and I knew that he was trying to stall, and his eyes met mine. I could see the fear in his eyes and it melted my heart. I didn't know I was supposed to help him.

"Boss I did give you information like you asked," admitted Tweener.

The two of them were talking like I wasn't even there. Bellick said something about Tweener being a waste of good fries? What? Tweener had finished gathering his things and started to move out of the cell. He looked to me with desperate eyes. I followed them out of the cell.

"Wait, you can't move him," I said.

They stopped and both looked at me. Tweener looked grateful that I was defending him, but Bellick looked downright pissed off. I was feeling pretty confident, but when Bellick started stalking towards me I cowered in fear.

"What was that?" Bellick hissed holding his hand out to his ear.

I looked behind Bellick back to Tweener and he nodded his head signaling me to go on.

"Please, you can't move him."

"I can do whatever I want missy," he said.

I raised my eyebrows at him and put my hands on my hips. Was he really going to try and go at it with me? I worked for the FBI for crying out loud. If I wanted to I could rip away his job and all of his benefits.

"I will let Tweener stay on one condition," Bellick said menacingly.

My eyes widened in fear. Tweener's eyes did the same. We both were hoping that I wasn't going to be put in any danger.

"I know that you know what is going on around here. Tell me and your boyfriend gets to stay."

Tweener looked desperately at me again. I bit my lip unsure of what to do. I wanted Tweener to stay, but was it worth it to give up my secrets? Tweener could see the internal struggle I was having and his eyes flashed with anger. He looked furious that I wasn't choosing him. I gave him a shoulder shrug. What did he want from me? I hadn't even worked the whole escape thing out myself, and I was expected to tell Bellick. I had my mind made up and I looked to the ground because I felt too guilty to look at Tweener in the eyes. He should have seen that as a bad sign. Bellick cleared his throat waiting for me and I just slowly shook my head.

"LANEY!" shouted Tweener.

My eyes met his and his expression was a mixture of sadness and absolute hatred. I started to move towards him, but he angrily stepped back. I wanted nothing more than to go over there and explain myself to him. Bellick, however, started to lead him away. Tweener shouting my name had captured most of the inmate's attention. I noticed Sucre, Westmoreland, and Tbag all watching.

"Tweener, I'm sorry…" I started to apologize while following behind them.

Tweener stopped moving and furiously spun around towards me. It frightened me a little bit and I flinched when he looked at me.

"Just stop it Laney. I don't know how I ever could have cared for you. You are a stuck up, spoiled little BITCH!"

My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that Tweener was acting this way. Couldn't he understand why I couldn't say anything? I knew that Tweener wasn't really serious, but to see the anger in Tweener's eyes was the scariest thing. Suddenly, the inmates all started shouting and I could feel my face getting hot. Then I realized that they were all yelling at me.

"BITCH! BITCH! BITCH! BITCH! BITCH! BITCH! BITCH!" They were all chanting at different times.

I tried to swallow back a huge lump in my throat as I watched all of the other inmates scream at me. I started to lean forward and had to catch myself on the railing. I had never been so humiliated in my life. I could feel the tears starting to sting my eyes. I tried to blink them away and I heard the inmates start to tease me about crying. That only made it worse. I had to look over to Tweener for a shred of hope that someone in this place cared about me. I looked over to him and I saw that Bellick was smirking at me. Tweener was looking at me with no remorse and he even turned to look away from me. I had to choke back a sob and I just wanted to get out of here. Tweener looked back to me one final time and he mouthed a sentence, but it was the final straw.

"I hate you," he mouthed as a final remark.

The room started spinning. I just stood there frozen to the spot as Bellick led Tweener away. I couldn't even hold back my sobs anymore. I brought my hand up to cover my mouth as the tears streamed down my face. The inmates got their victory as I hurried back towards my cell. While I was moving, each step feeling like it weighed 1,000 tons. I reached the safety of my cell and the bars shut in front of me. I collapsed onto the ground and I rested one hand on the bars and the other on my forehead. I was sobbing uncontrollably to the point where I had troubling breathing. Something inside of me felt like it was ripped in two. I think it was my heart. Every time I thought about it, I would get this stabbing pain that would make me crouch over. Eventually, I let the sobs get the best of me and I found myself lying on the floor. My sobbing had quieted down, but my tears were starting to form a puddle around me. I had to force myself not to think about Tweener.

It was too painful.


	81. Chapter 81

The lights turning on were what finally woke me up the next morning. I felt absolutely horrible. My eyes were stinging and blood shot, my throat was raw, my hair was a mess, and my heart was broken. I pulled myself up off the floor and walked over to the bars. The other inmates were scurrying about their cells, like nothing ever happened yesterday. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach again as I thought about yesterday. I turned my head to look at my now empty cell. My breathing started to pick up because the room felt cold and lonely. I thought about Tweener and my eyes instantly moved down to his new cell. Of course he was standing by his bars looking out ahead. His face was completely vacant and he was shaking slightly.

I was trying to figure out what was wrong when Avocado appeared right behind Tweener. Tweener flinched violently and I felt myself starting to shake. Wait, why the hell did I care? Tweener absolutely humiliated me yesterday and he made it perfectly clear that he wanted to do with me. I furrowed my brow, but froze to the spot when Tweener looked up in my direction. It caught me off guard and I immediately had to turn my head. I bit my lip as I could feel the tears again. Apparently, this was going to be difficult.

I quickly had to wipe my eyes when the cell doors opened. The guards were calling everyone out for showers. I got to spend the morning with all of the inmates that openly expressed how much they hated me. Great. I crossed my arms and kept my eyes to the ground as I made my way through Gen Pop. I needed to pretend that what happened didn't affect me, even though it did. One of the guards quickly escorted me to the locker room where I could change. He kept looking at me with sympathy. Of course, Bellick had to spread the word around.

The guard shut the door and I quickly slipped out of my clothes. I was extremely sore from sleeping on the ground, and I was exhausted. I wrapped the towel snuggly around my body, and the doors opened again letting the other inmates in. I started making my way towards the showers to wait my turn when the other inmates started to walk by. I could hear them still whispering bitch when they walked by and I was doing my best to ignore them. I stopped dead in my tracks when I nearly walked right into Tweener. Both of our eyes went wide and our mouths opened like we wanted to say something. He was shirtless with only the towel wrapped around his waist. I would be crazy to say he didn't look good.

He caught me staring at his chest, but before he could say anything, Avocado came behind him and pushed him roughly. I watched him as he flinched again and kept moving. Avocado stepped in front of me and that was someone I never wanted to see without a shirt. He gripped my chin hard with his fingers and smirked at me. I jerked away from him and he laughed as he moved away. I took a deep breath and leaned against the lockers waiting for the others to finish their showers.

It didn't really surprise me when Tbag was the first one out of the shower. What did surprise me was when he came around the corner with no towel. I blushed and quickly looked down to the ground. I heard Tbag laugh as he found a towel. He walked over to me and lightly brushed the hair off of my hidden face.

"Miss Laneykins, why would you be trying to hide such a pretty face?"

I couldn't hide my smile when I looked back up to Tbag. He was smiling down at me waiting for an answer.

"You were naked," I said so hoarse that I didn't even recognize my voice.

I tried to swallow, which caused me immense pain, due to the rawness of my throat. Tbag gave me a stern look.

"I didn't think I would ever hear you stop crying last night," he scolded.

My face started to flush. I forgot that other people would have been able to hear my sobbing. I tried to apologize, but I couldn't make a sound. Tbag quickly wrapped his hand around the back on my neck and pulled me close to his face. I gripped my towel tighter around my body. He leaned down close to my ear.

"If Tweener can't see what a great catch you are, then he doesn't deserve you," he whispered.

I was stunned. Tbag released my neck and looked back up at him. His face was completely serious. I offered him a small smile, but couldn't say anything. Luckily, the awkward moment between us wouldn't last long because the other inmates started emerging from the shower. I put some distance between the two of us and looked back to the ground. I heard one of the inmates whisper bitch again and I flinched. I looked back up when I heard something slam. Tbag had gripped that inmate by his throat and slammed him back against the lockers. The lockers were still rattling and I couldn't take my eyes off of Tbag. There was nothing but pure hatred in his eyes. I felt flattered that Tbag was doing this for me, but I didn't want anyone to get killed. I didn't know how to get his attention without speaking.

I started to move forward but two other inmates pulled Tbag away. I stopped moving and looked to my left where Tweener was coming out of the shower. Suddenly, everybody had their eyes on me. I was looking back and forth between Tweener and Tbag. Someone may have said my name, but I didn't know who said it. My eyes stopped moving and I was just staring at Tweener. I briefly looked down then hurried into the shower and hoped that there weren't any inmates still left in there.

I was letting the water run down the front of my face. So many thoughts were running through my head. Everything that happened yesterday. The way Tweener was looking at me today made me think that he wasn't serious, and he just got caught up in the moment. But he still should have never treated me that way. He wasn't going to be forgiven that easily. Then Tbag was acting so sweet this morning, defending me like that. I squatted down and was resting on my tip toes while the water was hitting the top of my head. I covered my eyes with my hand and I started to cry again. With my other hand, I punched the wall in front of me a couple of times. I was so overwhelmed at this point, I thought I was going crazy. I had to laugh at myself at the thought of possibly having to go to the psych ward with Michael.

As the water rinsed over me, I thought back to when I first was spying on Michael in the shower, before I knew about the escape. At that point, Sucre had just been sent to the Shu, and Michael's new cell mate was also spying on his tattoos….

My head snapped up and I immediately shut off the water. I nearly sprinted back to the locker room and changed into my clothes. I couldn't believe that I didn't have this figured out sooner. It made perfect sense of what Michael was doing. I opened the door and I practically dragged the guard back to Gen Pop. The other inmates were just walking around and again I sprinted across the floor to Tbag's cell. His eyes widened when he saw me burst in with my sopping wet hair. I was out of breath and I told Tbag to hold on a second.

"Is everything alright Laneykins?" he asked.

I signaled for Tbag to come over because I still couldn't speak well. When he got close enough, I pitched my idea.

"You know how Michael couldn't remember the tattoos, and it drove him crazy enough to be sent to the psych ward," I whispered.

Tbag nodded his head, but I could tell that he still wasn't following along with what I was saying.

"Can you think of any other reason why he would want to go to the whack shack?"

Tbag shook his head unable to see the big picture. I leaned so close that our noses were nearly touching.

"Haywire."


	82. Chapter 82

**A/N: Hey guys sorry for not updating in a while. The World Series had completely distracted me, so if I have any Cardinals fans out there, HOLLA! Anyway, here is the next chapter, feel free to review, message, make suggestions, anything! Enjoy =)**

I spent the next hour trying to convince Tbag that Michael was faking being crazy and was in the whack shack to get help from Haywire. He didn't quite believe me. He thought that Michael was such a perfectionist that when he couldn't figure out the way out, he cracked. I turned up the stairs with Tbag right behind me. I looked over and my eyes caught sight of Tweener's. It was a moment like that that made me grateful to have Tbag by my side. And that was something I never thought I would say. Needless to say, he was helping me repress and forget about my broken heart. Tbag caught up to me and I went to say something, but he held his finger up to his mouth and pulled me against a wall.

At first, I was a little nervous because I never knew what mood Tbag was in. He wasn't paying attention to me, however, he was listening in a conversation inside a cell. It wasn't just any cell; that cell belonged to Sucre and Michael. I craned my neck so I could listen in too.

"It is a fine piece of real estate," said Officer Geary.

I rolled my eyes. The more I was around that officer, the more I didn't trust him. He just seemed dirty to me. Why would he be in Michael's cell anyway?

"How much you want for it?" asked the inmate.

I looked back to Tbag who was staring back at me. This wasn't a good sign. They were selling Michael's cell to the highest bidder. If another inmate moved in before Sucre could get back, they could find the hole.

"$200."

My mouth dropped when Geary named his price. That seemed like a hefty price for a bunch of inmates.

"Hey boss the toilet's leaking," whined the inmate."

My mouth dropped again. I looked again to Tbag, but he was staring into the cell. I knew that we were both thinking the same thing.

"I'll put in an order to have it fixed in the morning," responded Geary.

The inmate moved out of the cell and eyed Tbag and me. To make room for the inmate to get by Tbag had to push himself up against my body. I immediately tensed up and looked into Tbag's eyes for any sign of wickedness. Surprisingly there was none. He was too busy focusing on Geary coming out of the cell. I couldn't take my mind off of how close our bodies were. In a strange way it felt good to be in close contact with someone, even if it was Tbag. However, my mind could only think of Tweener. I wanted to feel his touch against mine. It pained my chest to think that I might never get to touch Tweener again. Of course, I could never tell Tbag this. He was doing his best to be kind to me, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Plus, his mood shifted so easily, who knows what kind of reaction he would have. Geary finally came out of the cell and was staring at our proximity.

"You got a problem Tbag?" he spat.

Tbag rested one of his hands on my shoulders. I tensed up again.

"I couldn't help but overhear that you have a cell for sale."

Geary raised his eyebrows.

"Why would you be interested in cell 40? You have begged the guards to keep you in your bottom cell."

"You see, me and miss Laneykins were looking to move in together, and she wanted a cell with a little less history for the both of us."

My eyes widened and I pushed myself away from Tbag. Of course, that is where he was going with this. Just like that, the old Tbag was back in action. I tried to move away, but Tbag held onto my elbow holding me firmly in place. Geary looked disgusted at the thought of me being Tbag's girl. I didn't think that he would be stupid enough to believe it.

"I thought she was Tweener's girl," he responded.

I had to shut my eyes. Just hearing his name made my chest ache. The thought of being called Tweener's girl made me smile on the inside, but on the outside I knew that that was over. I could feel the tears starting to come on and Tbag's gripped tightened.

"Tweener doesn't know how to hold on to his valuables," he said darkly.

I furrowed my brow when Tbag started to refer to me as an item. I forcefully ripped my arm out of his. Geary laughed at the two of us.

"The cell's not for sale Tbag," said Geary as he left.

Tbag glared at me and I just glared right back. We didn't have time for this. We needed to think of some way to stop them from giving away Michael's cell, and inevitably, find that hole. I pushed passed Tbag and hurried to find C-note. Tbag was right on my heels.

"Are you still thinking about Tweener?" he spat.

I rounded along the stairs and took one step at a time. I spotted C-note at the corner of the room.

"Well, people keep bringing him up, so yes I think about him," I growled.

"I can still see it your eyes. You aren't over him."

I took in a deep intake of breath. I really didn't need this right now. We had almost reached C-note.

"It has been one f***in day," I practically shouted.

That was enough to shut him up for a minute. We finally reached C-note and he looked up to me with a grin.

"What's going on snowflake?"

I bit my lip unsure of how to explain the situation. C-note curiously raised his eyebrows waiting for me to answer.

"We have a little situation," I admitted.

C-note's eyebrows went even higher, and I was struggling even more to find the right words. Tbag roughly pushed passed me.

"Good God Laney, we are going to be here until next year," he complained.

I scowled but he only smirked.

"Here's the thing darkie, ole man Geary is auctioning off Scofield's cell and if they find that toilet we are all screwed."

Both C-note and I didn't appreciate the racist comments Tbag brought in his statement, but nonetheless he explained our problem. C-note assessed the situation and started heading to speak to Geary. I wondered if he was going to try and buy the cell.

"How much is Geary selling for it?" asked C-note.

"$200," I blurted.

C-note gave me a look and started to laugh.

"Man, you had worried for a second snowflake."

I raised my eyebrow in annoyed way just begging for C-note to please explain how we shouldn't be worried about this.

"I can certainly match $200 no problem."

This time I rolled my eyes. I was just trying to keep him informed on what was going on. He didn't have to give me attitude.

"Well aren't we all lucky then," I smarted off.

C-note smirked and nodded his head in agreement. He finally reached Geary and I backed off a little. It would probably look a little weird if I was seen with both inmates asking about a free cell. I let my eyes wander around Gen Pop. I looked around and most of the inmates had been torturing me last night. I didn't even know half of these guys, so I don't know why they were even calling me a bitch? I guessed they had nothing better to do with their sorry lives then pick on the girl that was getting her heart ripped out. Speaking of, my eyes finally settled on where Tweener was standing. He was leaning against the wall next to his new cell door.

He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and he was looking at his feet. I wished I could see his eyes. Wait, what was I thinking? I shouldn't want to see Tweener's eyes. I shouldn't even be looking at him. He expressed his feelings, and I shouldn't let his decision affect me. even as I was thinking these things, though, I couldn't tear my gaze away from Tweener. He was just so beautiful and peaceful to watch standing there. I could hear mumblings behind me, but I didn't know who it was.

"Laney," C-note called for the fourth time.

I finally strained my attention away to look back at C-note. He was giving me a weird look, and I didn't realize that he had been trying to get my attention for a while and I had been staring and smiling at Tweener. I immediately started to blush at getting caught. C-note smile and started shaking his head back and forth.

"What did Geary have to say?" I asked trying to get the topic off of me.

"He is asking for $300."

My eyes widened at the increased price of the cell. Again, C-note started to laugh at me. What the hell? Was this let's tear down Laney week? C-note let me know that he had no problem getting $300 either. I gave him a smart ass smile and turned my head when the guards called out that we could go outside. I looked back to Tweener as he made his way toward the stairs. C-note pulled on elbow trying to get my attention again to get in line. I ended up right in between Tbag and C-note as we made our way into the yard.


	83. Chapter 83

It was a cold day out in the yard. Tbag offered me his hat to wear, but I declined. Hats weren't really my thing. I settled for walking in a close proximity so I could keep warm. I glanced over to the psych ward and I wondered how Michael was doing. Tbag caught me staring.

"Scofield in there having arts and crafts time with Haywire," he mocked.

I punched him in the chest and he laughed at me.

"Go ahead and make fun now, but I am telling you that I am absolutely positive that Michael meant to get sent in there."

Tbag laughed again and shook his head in disagreement. I couldn't understand why he didn't believe me. They all knew Michael by now, he was absolutely smart enough and capable of doing this. Tbag would just have to wait until I could say I told you so. And trust me, I sure as hell was going to say it. I stuck my tongue out at him and tried to get away, but Tbag grabbed me and pulled me into him. In the back of my mind, I knew this was wrong on so many levels. This guy has tried to kill me more than once, killed other people, and done unspeakable things to other people.

Yet, here I was standing facing Tbag up close with his arms wrapped around me, and I didn't feel afraid. I didn't feel afraid, but I couldn't help but thinking this wasn't right. And I knew the reason. He wasn't Tweener. If Tbag knew that I was feeling like this he, the nice would soar right out of him so I just offered him a smile. I jerked away when I heard somebody clear their throat.

"Am I interrupting something?" asked C-note in a cold voice.

I put myself I good distance away from Tbag and dropped my eyes to the ground. Tbag looked more proud than usual as he stood his ground.

"As a matter of fact," Tbag started but was interrupted.

"I would like Laney to come with me for a while," said C-note.

I gave C-note a confused look as to why he wanted to see me. It was the urgency in his voice that made me so curious. Tbag on the other hand, didn't look too pleased. He started to move defensively towards me, but I made a quick step around him.

"Sure, C-note let's go."

C-note led the way and I followed behind him, but I didn't dare look back to see the look on Tbag's face.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To see Trumpets," replied C-note.

We were going to see an instrument? I was officially confused as I walked next to C-note. Why did he need to see an instrument?

"I didn't know that prisons had trumpets," I stated.

C-note started laughing at me, again, but I didn't know what for. I just made a simple statement. I looked over to C-note to please explain to me what I did wrong.

"Trumpets is an inmate Laney," he explained.

I nodded my head and I felt like an idiot. Of course, he was an inmate, and of course prisons didn't have instruments. I gave C-note a fake, and innocent smile. Now that I had made a complete fool of myself, we could move on with the conversation.

"What's going on with you and Tbag?" asked C-note.

I have to admit that the question caught me off guard. It disturbed me a little that people could think I have feelings for that man, but my actions probably said otherwise.

"No, of course not," I replied.

C-note raised his eyebrow at me clearly not believing my answer. I let out a breath. I didn't know if I would be able to explain myself over and over again to people's questions without getting annoyed.

"He was holding you kind of close when I approached you guys."

"That was just a little fun," I explained.

C-note shook his head like he had heard this all before. I widened my eyes and nodded my head telling him that I was telling the truth.

"Laney I know that you are probably upset about Tweener, and Tbag is there to comfort you, but you need to be careful."

I stopped walking and I furrowed my brow at C-note. How dare he! He had no right to assume that I was using Tbag for comfort because of Tweener, and that I should be careful around him. What he didn't know was that I felt perfectly safe around Tbag.

"You don't know anything," I spat rudely.

C-note looked at me with a surprised face, but I continued to scowl at him. Everyone was going to leave me alone about this Tbag business, and that included C-note. I wasn't able to keep up my tough act for long and I broke my scowl. I looked at C-note apologetically.

"I'm sorry Laney, it's none of my business."

He wrapped one of his strong arms around me, and it made me giggle. We rounded the corner on one of the sidewalks and I saw a group of inmates standing by the weightlifting equipment. I tensed up next to C-note because I would not normally be around these guys. They looked like a rough and tough gang that would beat the living daylights out of anyone for just looking at them. C-note practically had to pull me along to the rest of them. He pounded a few fists with the others, and they were all staring at me. I tried to remain close to C-note.

"Trumpets this is Laney," C-note introduced.

The inmate called Trumpets gave a quick nod in my direction like he already knew who I was.

"Everyone around here knows the name of the only chick in a prison," he smarted.

He had an extremely deep voice. I guess in a strange way I felt special that all the inmates around here knew my name. It also kind of disturbed me. I gave Trumpets a small smile, which he didn't return.

"Listen man, some new real estate has come into play, so I need you to gather up all of my assets," ordered C-note.

Trumpets nodded his head like he understood and moved to get the money. I was giving a confused look to C-note. Why the hell did he even want me to come along? That was it, the rest of the gang followed Trumpets, and C-note and I were standing alone. I folded my arms across my chest.

"What was that?" I asked. "Why did you introduce me to Trumpets?"

C-note smirked to himself.

"I didn't know how Trumpets would react to my request, and I figured he wouldn't be as violent if you were around."

Now it was my turn to smirk.

"I see, you were just using me," I teased.

"Just like you are using Tbag."

"I'm not using Tbag! We are just hanging out as friends," I declared.

C-note shook his head and I punched him in his arm.

"Just make sure I get an invitation to the wedding."

That was it. I had had enough. I just turned around and walked away from C-note. The thought of getting married to Tbag made me laugh out loud. I could picture the wedding now. I made it a point to turn my head around to C-note and stick my tongue out at him. I wasn't really sure where I was walking, but I was enjoying my stroll alone. I noticed Sucre's cousin dropping off some laundry inside the psych ward. My eyes perked up and I had an idea. There was one way I could find out about Michael. I hurried over to where his cousin was standing and hopped in front of him.

"Hey," I said.

He looked at me curiously, I think he was trying to decide if I was actually talking to him. I giggled.

"Hola mami," he responded.

I had to giggle again because he sounded just like Sucre. I wished Sucre would get out of the Shu because I missed having him around. I missed having Michael around too. That made me realize why I came over to this guy in the first place.

"You just came from the psych ward. Did you see Michael in there?"

He gave me a confused look, then a frightened one, and turned around to walk away. I had to hurry and catch him before he got away.

"Wait, I just want to know if Michael is alright. Please don't leave," I called.

The cousin stopped and turned back around to face me. I looked at him desperately. I wanted to know what Michael was up to.

"I don't even know why he is there. He doesn't act crazy. He wanted me to give Sucre a message for him."

My eyes lit up at this news. I knew it that Michael didn't go crazy. And he was even trying to get word about what he was doing to Sucre. But I bet Michael didn't know that Sucre was in the Shu, so maybe I should find out what Michael needed.

"What's the message? You can tell me."

Sucre's cousin looked at me skeptically for a moment trying to decide if I could be trusted. He must have remembered be from when he gave Sucre the guard's uniform.

"He just wanted me to tell Sucre that he is completing the path."

I couldn't hide the smile forming on my face. I couldn't believe that I was actually right. Michael got himself sent to the psych ward to use Haywire to figure out the rest of the escape. That man was one crazy genius. I said my thanks to Sucre's cousin.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" he asked.

I bit my lip unsure of what to say. God, now I knew I was spending too much time with Tbag if he has got me biting my lip. This guy had definitely deserved to know what was going on after everything he has done for Michael and Sucre, but I wasn't sure if I was the person to tell him.

"Trust me when I say this. You really don't want to know."

He seemed disappointed, but he didn't argue. I felt bad for the guy. I turned my head when I heard C-note calling my name. I started to walk towards him, but stopped and looked the other way.

"What's your name?" I asked Sucre's cousin.

"Miguel."

I smiled genuinely at him.

"Thanks for everything you've done Miguel," I said then turned to walk away.


	84. Chapter 84

C-note told me that Trumpets was ready to meet back up again. I thought that was a little quick, but I didn't object. While we were heading back to the other side of the building I caught up C-note on everything that Miguel had told me. Unlike Tbag, C-note completely believed me that Michael was up to something in the psych ward. Hopefully Michael could get it figured out before it was too late. As soon as we round the corner I knew something was wrong. I could sense the tension between them and us. I stood closer next to C-note as he approached Trumpets.

"You got my money?" he asked.

"Here's the thing, you got nothing coming," replied Trumpets.

My heart rate was starting to pick up. If C-note had nothing coming to him then why did they want to meet with us? I could feel the others starting to close in around us. This definitely was not good.

"What do you mean I got nothing?" growled C-note.

Trumpets smirked and glowered at me.

"It's called staying true to your own. You want money get it from your new crew: Tbag and the white queen," he said gesturing to me.

I blushed and looked over to C-note who was looking back at me. This is what he was warning me about. C-note was worried about how they would feel about him spending all of his time with the PI group. Apparently, they didn't like it too much.

"It doesn't matter if I eat lunch with the KKK, I still get what's mine," said C-note.

I giggled to myself as I thought that was a pretty bold statement. Trumpets didn't like it very much and he shook his head back and forth. I could sense one guy that was standing right behind me. He was fidgeting with something behind his back, but I refused to take my eyes off of C-note.

"Why don't you get out of here," threatened Trumpets.

C-note smirked and looked over to me. We both nodded our heads and at the same time he lunged forward and punched Trumpets square in the face, and I forcefully elbowed the guy behind me in the nose. It wasn't much of a fight after that. Two guys took down C-note pretty easily and when I turned around to face the others, one inmate swung a sock and it nailed me right in the eye. I don't know what was in the sock, but I was heavy and it hurt like hell. I collapsed to the ground holding my now bleeding eye. Unfortunately, our beating was only beginning. One of the inmates kicked me in the ribs, and C-note put himself on top of me to try and protect me from the blows. Also, more than one inmate had their socks filled with whatever it was. They were beating C-note and I senseless with them and kicking us at the same time. My back took most of the hits, but I knew that C-note was getting it way worse than I was. I was begging them to stop, but they were only laughing and mocking me. I didn't know if they were going to beat us until they killed us as I took another shot to my lower back. After one more hit to C-note, they finally stopped. Trumpets muttered something I didn't hear and stormed off. C-note moved himself off of me and fell onto the ground. I turned myself onto my side so I was facing C-note. The blood was running down my face and covering my eye. I could already feel the bruises forming. I watched C-note's shaky breathing for a while until he tried to get up.

"What just happened?" I asked trying to add humor to the situation.

C-note slowly pulled himself to his knees. I started wiping off my blood with my hand.

"You didn't stop the violence. Thanks a lot," teased C-note.

If it wouldn't hurt to roll my eyes, I would have right at C-note. He held out his hand and I slowly took and he lifted me off the ground. I immediately winced and clutched at my side. I probably had a few cracked or broken ribs. My back was killing me and my face was throbbing. I looked over and C-note look just as bad as or even worse than I did. We were both going to have some nasty bruises on our eyes. I craned my head when I heard a siren go off. It wasn't very long and I knew that it was the lunch bell. C-note and I were going to have to go to lunch looking like this.

"Maybe nobody will notice," I offer with a smile.

C-note told me to stop acting naïve and started limping towards the building. I followed slowly behind him. We made one stop so we could clean the blood off of our faces just leaving the forming bruises. I could see my long gash at the top of my bruised eye. C-note had a bruise on his eye, but I could tell that his back took most of the hits. I felt guilty because he had covered me to protect me, it was my fault.

"C-note I'm sorry," I started to say.

"No Laney, I am the one who needs to apologize. I never should have put you in that situation. Tbag is going to kill me."

I looked at him with a confused look. C-note only smirked at me.

"Just wait until he sees your face."

I took a deep breath and followed C-note to the cafeteria. It was scary at how right C-note's predictions were. Right in front of the entrance to the cafeteria was Tbag waiting for us to arrive. He took one look at us limping together and I thought his head was going to explode. He sprinted over to where I was standing and he cupped my face in his hands. He did it a little too roughly and I flinched in pain. He gently rubbed his thumb over my eye.

"Jesus Christ, C-note, I leave her with you for an hour and she comes back like this," he growled.

I recognized the look in Tbag's eyes and he was getting ready to charge C-note. It really wasn't C-note's fault, but Tbag was so possessive and stubborn that he wouldn't believe me. I did the first thing I could think of to prevent Tbag from ripping C-note's head off. I leaned forward into Tbag and wrapped my arms around him snuggly. I rested my throbbing head against his chest. I am sure it surprised the both of them even though I couldn't see their faces.

"I'm fine Tbag really, let's just go get something to eat," I said quietly.

Tbag pulled me off of him just slightly so that I was looking up at him. He was stroking his hands across my elbows. He bit his lip and gave me a grin.

"Sure Laneykins after you."

I started to limp forward and Tbag followed closely behind me. I was the first one into the cafeteria, but I wish that I wasn't. Everyone immediately turned to stare and the damaged inmates walking in with Tbag. The inmates started to cheer and whistle and I turned to look at Tbag.

"They think you did this," I whispered.

He shrugged his shoulder like it was no big deal. I thought to myself that apparently this must happen often. Of course, it did, this was Tbag we were talking about. We continued moving and tried hurrying through the line to get our food. The inmates continued talking amongst themselves but they were still watching C-note and I. I was holding my tray away from my ribs and limping slowly trying to reach Westmoreland at our table. My eyes were so focused on him that I didn't notice anyone else around me. That is, I didn't noticed anybody until I walked by a table and he stood up right beside me. I turned my attention to see Tweener just standing their staring at me. He wasn't moving at all. The whole cafeteria went silent again and I could tell that the inmates were watching Tweener and I. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists like he was going to kill whoever did this to me. He looked like he wanted to reach out and stroke my cheek, and I probably would have let him. Nothing would have comforted me more, but Tbag held me by the elbow and led me away glaring at Tweener.

We reached Westmoreland and as I sat down I turned to look back at Tweener. He was still standing and staring at me. I offered him a small smile to let him know that I was ok then turned back to face the other way. I could see Tbag giving me a nasty glare. I would probably have to deal with that later. C-note set his tray down and plopped down in a seat. I winced when I realized that that probably hurt.

"We are going to have to find another solution to our little financial situation," said C-note.

Tbag started stuffing his face with food, and when I looked at mine I thought I was going to be sick. I pushed my tray back and put my head in my hand resting my elbow on the table.

"There is one option," said Tbag, "The Kitchen Game."

I didn't think I even wanted to know what he was referring to. My body was trying to heal itself and that required me to not be awake. I could slowly feel my body starting to crash. My eyelids were getting heavy and my head was starting to drop. I was forcing myself to stay awake so I could hear Tbag's plan.

"Trust me when I play cards, it isn't gambling. There are maybe 5 people in the world that can do what I do," he explained.

"So what you cheat?" I asked before I could stop myself.

I really didn't mean to ask that, but it came out before I realized what was happening. I wasn't even sure if they could understand me because it came out so groggy.

"It's called strategy my dear, but if I get caught those Mexicans will have plenty of knives handy"

I didn't like the sound of that. I didn't want Tbag to get hurt, and this game sounded dangerous.

"Unfortunately, it is $50 just to get in, and we don't have any money," whispered Tbag.

I was nodding my head in agreement, but my elbow was slipping and my head was now resting on the table. It didn't take long before I was out.


	85. Chapter 85

I woke up with a pounding headache. It felt like a giant brick was resting on my forehead. I squinted my eyes and was trying to figure out where I was. I knew it wasn't my cell, but I couldn't tell who's I was in. I made out a figure leaning against the wall just watching me. When my vision cleared I gasped when I saw that it was Tweener watching me.

"Hey beautiful," he whispered.

I gave Tweener a small smile, but on the inside I was extremely confused. I knew that this wasn't Tweener's cell either, so I kept wondering where the hell were we? Tweener sensed my confusion and walked over to where I was lying. He gently bent down so not to alarm me and brushed some of my hair off of my damaged face. I instantly started to feel warm inside and the butterflies were fluttering in my stomach. I knew he could feel the same things, although he probably would never admit that he would feel the fluttering butterflies in his stomach. The thought made me giggle. He looked at me curiously, and I became self-conscious once again trying to hide my injured face.

"Still so beautiful," he whispered.

"Tweener where am I?" I whispered back smiling.

"Well, you fell asleep right there in the cafeteria. It was a little funny and everyone was laughing at you."

So far, I didn't like this story very much. I gave him a nasty glare, but he only laughed. The next part to him wasn't so funny. I could hear the jealousy dripping off of his lips.

"Tbag picked you up bridal style and was going to take you back to your cell. You didn't resist him and snuggled right up against his chest. I thought about if he took you back to your cell and started snooping around, he could find your journal."

I gasped at that realization. But I realized that Tbag obviously didn't find my journal or I would be dead right now. I let Tweener finish the rest of the story.

" I had to stop Tbag from taking you to your cell, so I offered to carry you the rest of the way," he said with a smirk, "Tbag gets just about as jealous as I do, and refused. He must have assumed that I would follow you into your own cell, so he put you in his."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. I was in Tbag's cell. On his bed? Usually, this kind of thing never turned out well, but recently Tbag hasn't tried anything on me. I supposed that for the time being I was safe here. But that meant that Tweener actually stepped foot in Tbag's cell just for me. I couldn't even try to hide the smile that formed on my face. He returned the smile and started to lean forward. I titled my head and started to move closer to Tweener awaiting the kiss I knew was going to happen. Our lips were inches from each other when I heard someone clear their throat. I pulled back and dropped my eyes to the floor briefly.

Tbag was staring daggers at Tweener. Tweener was glaring back. It was a showdown. Tbag bit his lip and started to stalk further into the cell. I hadn't seen this look on his face in a while, and it made me a little nervous. Tbag stopped moving and just stared at Tweener.

"Out!" he growled menacingly.

Tweener knew he better not test the waters today. He looked at me briefly before turning to leave. On his way out, he purposefully bumped Tbag in the shoulder. I gasped in fear not knowing what Tbag would do. He caught Tweener by the arm.

"Tell Avocado I say hello," he said before shoving him out the door.

Tweener looked like he just got punched in the gut. I hated every second of this. I wanted to go over there and throw my arms around Tweener, but I didn't think that I could move. I watched as Tweener disappeared then collapsed back onto the bunk. Tbag turned and looked at me with a very hateful expression, and I flinched in fear.

"I give you the hospitality of my cell, and you invite the stray dogs in for a visit," he spat.

I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't ask to be brought in here, so next time put me in my own cell so that way Tweener and I won't bother you."

That set him off. He lunged at me faster than I could try to get away. In one swift motion he pinned both my arms and slammed against the wall. We were on the bottom bunk, so I screamed in agony when my back slammed against the wall. I tried to struggle against his hold and the tears started streaming down my face. Tbag told me to be quiet and took one of his hands and rested his thumb on the gash above my eye causing me to scream. He put a little pressure on it holding my face in place.

"I thought I was doing something nice for you Laneykins? In fact, I am pretty sure that since Tweener's little show I am the only one who has shown any kind of caring towards you. Most people would say thank you."

When I still didn't say anything, Tbag pressed his thumb a little harder and with his other hands began twisting my arm. I started to sob and I was becoming short of breath. Boy, my body was taking a beat down this week.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I muttered in between sobs.

Tbag looked at me curiously while not relieving any pressure.

"And?"

I whimpered and pouted out my lip, but I didn't want Tbag to hurt me anymore.

"Thank you for being for so kind to me," I whispered.

Tbag smiled triumphantly.

"That's better.

I didn't stop sobbing when Tbag released his hold on me. He let go of my forehead, but he pulled me along until I was resting on the edge of the bunk. He was stroking my hair whispering to me, but I was trying to block it all out.

"You just get some rest now Laneykins."

Like hell I was. He had to be absolutely insane to think that I was going to rest in this cell. While the tears were still burning my eyes, I was trying to figure out what just happened. Tbag was without a doubt the most confusing person I had ever met. One minute he was being completely charming and comforting me in my time of need, and the next minute he was trying to squeeze the life out of me. And then he had this way of making me feel guilty like it was my fault he had to hurt me. Then afterwards, he went back to being completely charming. I couldn't take any more of this, and I wanted nothing more than to leave this hell hole, but I was afraid of what Tbag would think.

The other thing that was tugging in the back of my mind was why nobody bothered to check to make sure that I was ok. I was positive that the other inmates, probably the guards too, could have heard me screaming, so why didn't any one come to my rescue? As sneakily as I could, I lifted my eyes to look up at Tbag for a moment. The anger had somewhat disappeared from his features, but there was still that hint of possessiveness. I think I figured out why nobody came in. Tbag has this way over exerting influence over the other inmates, and if he said stay away, then they would be too afraid to do otherwise. Tbag and I both heard the presence of someone outside the cell. Tbag did sort of this defensive crouch around me, and I felt sorry for whoever appeared. I breathed a sigh of relief to see it was Westmoreland. Tbag got up and approach him, but Westmoreland kept his eyes on me.

"Is she alright?" he asked worried.

I sat up a little bit and was going to answer, but Tbag turned his head towards me and gave me a look so I stayed silent. No sense to cause more trouble than I was already in.

"She's fine just a little exhausted," he reasoned.

I tried to hide my eye roll, but I think that Westmoreland noticed. Oops. Hopefully Tbag wouldn't take that out on me later. Westmoreland turned his attention back to Tbag and handed him a piece of green paper. It looked like money to me. Tbag ripped the paper from Westmoreland's hands and was eyeing it hungrily. I was trying to focus on what it was, but my recent beating (or should I say beatings?) was really taking a toll on my body.

"That is your buy in, the rest is in your hands," said Westmoreland.

I completely buried my face into the bunk so I didn't see Westmoreland leave the cell. I was starting to feel the sleepiness take over when I heard Tbag smirk. Here we go.

"You might want to watch where you put your face my dear. You aren't the first inmate to ah 'rest' his head on that bunk," he said.

Even though I couldn't see him, I knew that he was biting his lip or rolling his tongue. I was so revolted at what he said that I almost gave myself whiplash by snapping my head up so fast. That was disgusting! I started to gag and Tbag laughed at me. I tried to give him my most evil glare, but that only caused him to laugh more. He approached the bunk and I involuntarily flinched. Tbag smirked and sat down on the bunk, practically on top of my legs. He was twiddling the bill in between his fingers. I was eyeing it with confusion and Tbag noticed.

"This is the buy in for the Kitchen Game," he explained.

I eyed the bill more closely and I realized that it was a $100 bill. I raised my eyebrows suspiciously at Tbag.

"I thought the buy in was only $50?"

Tbag smiled wickedly at me that made me nervous. He had something planned that he had been keeping from me.

"The $100 will allow us both to play," he said.

My eyes bulged out of my head. Did he just say us? There was no way in hell that I was going to play cards? I didn't even like playing cards. I started shaking my head no at Tbag.

"Why me? Why do I have to play with you? I don't even know how to play?"

"That my dear is exactly why you have to play. No one is going to expect that you would be good at cards. If I am the one that is winning big every time I deal, then they will kill me right there. They will think you winning is just dumb luck."

Just dumb luck? I raised my eyebrows at Tbag in an annoyed way. If that was his way of trying to convince me to play, he was doing a terrible job. He was still forgetting one important detail.

"I. Don't. Know. How. To. Play." I spoke slowly.

Tbag narrowed his eyes at me and I knew he was telling me to cut the attitude. But I couldn't help it, I really didn't want to play.

"Stop whining, it is really simple. Every time I deal the cards, you just bet big and never fold."

That was simple? I bit my lip and felt sick just thinking about it. I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to be able to bluff my way out of a paper bag, and I had to do it for money. I knew that I was going to screw this up somehow, and we would lose and somebody else will get the cell and they won't escape, or worse they will kill Tbag and me. I didn't realize that I was spacing out in Tbag started to shout at me.

"Laney, Stop it right now!" he called out.

I focused my eyes onto Tbag's face and he was looking at me angrily. I didn't know what I did, but I had a feeling that Tbag wouldn't have a problem scolding me.

"What did I do?" I asked.

"Every time you get scared or nervous, you always look at me with those big beautiful eyes. You do that in the game and we are both as good as dead."

Just perfect. If I wasn't scared before, now I was on top of being nervous. I didn't know that I did that, and I wasn't sure that I could control it. It was just a reflex. I liked to feel secure, so I would look to Tbag. He could sense how much more nervous I was becoming. He leaned in towards me and placed his hand on my thigh giving it a light squeeze. My breathing started to pick up.

"Laney, I know that you can do this. I wouldn't trust anybody but you to be my partner," he confessed.

How was I supposed to say no to that? I closed my eyes briefly then slowly nodded my head that I would play the stupid game. Tbag looked rather pleased and got up from the bunk. He walked over to the sink to wash his face and I just watched him. In a way I supposed that it felt good that Tbag trusted me to do this, but I was afraid that he was putting his trust into the wrong person. Surely there was someone else that could play poker better than me? Tbag turned off the water and turned around and looked me up and down. It made me self-conscious and I felt my face redden. He walked over and extended his hand for me to take.

"You look like a mess. Clean yourself up."

My jaw dropped at the slap in the face I just received. I had half a notion to tell him of why I looked like this, but I kept my mouth shut. I gently took Tbag's hand and he pulled me up onto my feet. He pulled a little too fast and I became dizzy and stumbled a little. Tbag reached out and wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me. We were standing at a close proximity as I was looking up into Tbag's face. He took his free hand and brushed some of my hair over my shoulder. The classic Tbag move. He offered me a smile and before it went any further I stepped away from him and made my way over to the sink. The water did feel refreshing. I cleaned up my face and my hands until Tbag turned the water off. I looked at him and he just cocked his head and left his cell. I hung my head and followed him.


	86. Chapter 86

I followed right behind Tbag to the kitchen. I was so close that I was practically standing on his heels. I could see the entrance to the kitchen, and there were inmates coming in and out. What surprised me most though, was that a guard was letting them through. He had to know what was going on back there. I guess I had a new entry to write in my journal. I was thinking of starting a whole new section about the crooked guards. Maybe my next assignment, if I made it out of this one alive? Suddenly, Tbag started to move towards the door and I froze in panic. Why was I trying to do this? There was no way that I could do this. Tbag turned and looked and saw my apprehension.

"Laney," he started but I interrupted him.

"I can't do this, I just can't," I said and started to leave.

Tbag was too quick and caught up to me. I was trying to hold back my tears and was too embarrassed to look Tbag in the face. I was surprised when he didn't try to say anything, he was just preventing me from leaving. Finally, I gained the courage to look up at him. He didn't look angry or disappointed, but just held out his hand to me. I stared at it for a while before shakily extending my hand. He grabbed ahold of mine lacing our fingers together and pulling me along. I took a deep breath, I guessed there was no going back now. The guard took a look at Tbag and I together before opening the door. I made sure to give him my nastiest glare to let him know that he needed to be worried.

I officially was terrified of the kitchen. I felt like all of the scariest inmates worked back here with all of the knives. Tbag should work back here. He never let go of my hand the whole walk and I kept myself pressed close to him. I'm sure he hated that. We finally reached the other door with one of the inmates guarding it. He looked suspiciously at me wondering what I was doing. Tbag silenced him by waving the $100 in front of his face. He greedily took it and opened the door for us. A group of Mexican guys were glaring at Tbag and I. I was starting to get nervous again and Tbag squeezed my hand lightly to comfort me.

"You hear to play Tbag?" asked the one I assumed to be the one in charge.

Tbag smirked and gestured me toward the other end of the table.

"We both are," he said referring to me.

The others responded by laughing at me. I was officially scared shitless. I just wanted to run away before I humiliated myself. However, Tbag pretty much forced me down into my seat. He made his way over to his seat and was practically ignoring me.

"Does she even know how to play?" one of them teased.

I looked over to Tbag who looked back to me. I knew that he wasn't going to answer and I was going to have to handle this myself. I sat up a little straighter.

"I guess you won't have anything to worry about," I smarted.

The others didn't look too happy, but I wasn't backing down. As long as I faked my way through this, Tbag assured me that I would win. I would just have to trust him. God help me. And the game began. We were playing a couple of hands, and actually I wasn't that bad. I sort of understood what was going on, but I wasn't winning yet. Then it was Tbag's turn to deal. He made brief eye contact with me before dealing out the cards. I looked at my hand and had to keep my eyes from bulging. Tbag wasn't kidding when he said that he was good. We went back and forth placing bets and some of them were folding. Before long it was just me and the leader, Jesus'. He was eyeing me wickedly waiting for my move. One of the other inmates cleared his throat impatiently.

"I'm thinking," I spat.

In all honesty, I didn't need to think, I was just trying to stall for dramatic affect. I heard another inmate clear his throat. It was Tbag.

"Look Laneykins, this is a man's game and we don't wait around and think. So either bid, fold, or leave."

I turned my head to look at him and I raised one of my eyebrows. I know that he was trying to play the part, but he was doing too good of a job, now he was being a jerk. I looked back to my hand briefly then pushed all of my money into the middle. Jesus' grinned at me and showed his hand.

"Three bitches, bitch," he said showing three queens.

I gripped the cards in my hand a little tighter.

"What you got sweetheart?" asked one of the others.

I bit my lip nervously and slowly showed my hand. Jesus' looked in shock as I showed that I had what was called a full house. I won the hand. I quickly gathered the money and Tbag made some snarky comment about a woman winning the hand. Underneath the table, I felt his fingers brush across my knee. I had to hide back my smile.

The game continued for another hour. I was starting to enjoy playing this game. I would win the hands that Tbag would deal, but I was starting to get a little courageous and bet on other hands. I would win some of those too. It felt exhilarating to win the hands, and the danger I felt from the other players only motivated me. We almost had enough money to buy the cell back and then some. It was finally Tbag's deal and I knew that if I won this we would be set. Tbag started to shuffle.

"This is the last hand," called out Jesus', "I'm tired of losing my money to this little bitch."

I smirked at that. They asked me how much money I had won, and I figured it was about $300. We just needed a little more. I started to pick up the cards that Tbag passed out. 5 of clubs. 6 of hearts. 7 of clubs. 8 of diamonds. 9 of spades. There was one card left, and I knew that it would be a 10. I was listening to the others whine and wasn't paying attention to Tbag, and when I reached out for the card I accidently flipped it over revealing the 10 to the whole table. I looked over to Tbag.

"Nice move butterfingers. Now bury the card," said one of the others.

"I don't care if you see my card," I explained, "by the way blame Tbag for his crazy dealing."

I could see some of the observers starting to crowd around me. Apparently I had said something I shouldn't have. I looked over to Tbag again for help.

"Alright missy, if you want to be a baby about it we will just do the whole hand over."

Everything happened at once. I went to give the card back to Tbag and one of the inmates reached out and grabbed my wrist slamming it to the table. I whimpered in pain.

"The house rule is that you bury the card," announced Jesus' darkly.

I was so terrified that all I could do was nod my head. They released my wrist and I let go of the card. Tbag took it without looking at me and dealt me another card. I took a deep breath as I looked at it. A 2 of hearts. Pefect just perfect. I had absolutely nothing. I knew that I wasn't hiding my expression very well, but I was nervous. Once again, the hand came down to Jesus' and I. He did what I was afraid of and raised the pot. He looked at me with victory in his eyes.

"Are you in or out!" he shouted loudly.

I jumped in my seat and was staring at Jesus'. I didn't know what to do. It was getting harder to breath. Once again, Tbag rested his fingers on my knee and gave it a light squeeze. He had faith in me that I could do this. I knew what I had to do. I quickly counted the money I had. I looked at Jesus' and not only did I match what he bet, but I raised him. He looked at me with pure hatred.

"I don't have any money left," he growled, "haven't you heard of a gentleman's game."

I cocked my head to the side and smiled at him.

"Do I look like a gentleman to you?"

Everyone, including Tbag, was staring at me with open mouths. They couldn't believe the move I just pulled. Jesus' stared me down a moment before violently folding. He threatened me then stormed off followed by his gang. I was staring at the pile of money. I couldn't believe that I had just won the Kitchen Game. I started laughing out loud when I showed Tbag my hand. He smiled in satisfaction. We quickly gathered the money and bolted out of the kitchen.

We giddily sprinted back to our cells laughing at each other. I handed Tbag the money and he lifted me into the air and started spinning me around.

"I knew you could do it Laneykins," he said.

"Thanks for believing in me," I giggled.

He set me down and I smiled at him. I don't know what kind of a signal he perceived from that, but I was not prepared for what happened next. He took both of his hands and grabbed my face, then pulled my face into his with a kiss. I stood there wide eyed as Tbag explored my mouth with his own. I became a little nervous that he would want to go a little further, but he finally pulled away slowly. I was just staring up at him in shock. He smirked and twirled a piece of my hair in between his fingers. I slowly backed away from him and hurried up to my own cell. I was too embarrassed and confused to look back at him so I just flopped on my bunk and stayed there by myself.


	87. Chapter 87

C-note came into my cell to tell me that they were going out in the yard to talk to Geary. I looked at him desperately as I stood up. He laughed at me, and I knew that the saw what happened.

"Should I get used to calling you Mrs. Bagwell?"

I glared at him and punched him in the shoulder. Now was not the time for jokes. Suddenly, I realized if C-note saw what happened, then other inmates probably did too. I looked up at C-note and bit my lip.

"Do you think Tweener saw that?" I asked.

C-note smirked at my little dilemma. I didn't see what was so funny, Tweener's feelings were on the line.

"Why don't you go ask him yourself?" Said C-note pointing his finger.

I followed his finger to where Tweener was standing along the fence. He looked over at me and that face wasn't a good sign. I sighed and moved away from a chuckling C-note. Tweener saw me approaching him, gave me a dirty look, and started storming away. I picked up my pace to try and catch him, but he wasn't slowing down.

"Tweener, wait please I can explain," I said.

I didn't even know why I was bothering to explain anything. Tweener had dumped me, end of story. I could kiss anybody I wanted without having to feel guilty. Unfortunately, I did feel guilty because while my heart didn't stop when Tbag kissed me, I definitely felt something. Shock maybe, but there was some attraction there. And those feelings betrayed Tweener. I owed it to him to explain what happened. Tweener stopped moving and whirled around to face me angrily.

"Explain what Laney? I didn't see what you are referring to. But what makes it even better is that it is that talk of the breakfast table. Bagwell's Bitch."

My jaw dropped at my new nickname. Boy news did travel fast. I wonder how it could spread so quickly. No doubt Tbag was probably bragging, and that just pissed me off.

"That's not how it happened. Tbag jumped me," I explained.

"It didn't sound like you tried to fight him off too bad."

I sucked in my breath ready to argue my case, but I didn't have an argument. Tweener was right I didn't try to pull away, but I didn't respond either. Tweener rolled his eyes and started to leave again. I stopped him by calling out his name. He looked at me and I went to try and explain, when I felt a strong (a little too strong) pair of arms wrap themselves around my waist. Seeing the hatred in Tweener's eyes told me who it was. Tbag rested his chin on my shoulder and I turned to look at him. He leaned in and tried to kiss me, but I backed away.

"Tweener," I started to say.

He was trying to avoid eye contact with me, and I knew it was killing him inside. If Tbag would just let go of me for a second I could talk to him. Tbag finally let go of my waist but he practically shoved me to the side so he could approach Tweener. I got a little nervous because I didn't want Tweener to get hurt. Tweener apparently wasn't in the mood for a confrontation because he turned around and started to walk away.

"I'll let you know how she is in bed," T-bag called.

I put my hands on my hips and was prepared to tell Tbag off, but Tweener immediately turned around a punched Tbag straight in the face. I gasped when Tbag fell backwards and landed on his butt. I hadn't seen that look in his eyes since the riot. When he killed Bob. He charged Tweener like a football player, and knocked him to the ground. I watched in horror as the two were fighting each other. What scared me was that they weren't just venting their anger; they were out for blood. Tweener spit in his face, and Tbag punched him in the face. I had enough of the fight and I hurried over to where they were wrestling on the ground.

"Stop it! Stop it!" I shouted trying to pull Tbag away.

He shrugged me off and took another shot at Tweener. I looked around for anybody to help me. I spotted C-note standing by the fence and I pleaded with my eyes from him to come help me make sure these two didn't kill each other. C-note hurried over and figuring that Tweener was the easier of the two to take down, he grabbed him and pulled him away from Tbag. Tbag wasn't finished though, started to charge Tweener again. I hurried around him and stepped in between them. I had my back to Tweener, but my hands were resting on his arms, and I was looking up at Tbag. He was staring down at me with clenched fists. I wasn't going to let him hurt Tweener.

"You need to cool down," I spat.

He looked at me angrily, but started to back away. I had a feeling though that this wouldn't be over so quickly. Tbag turned around and stormed away, and I turned to look at Tweener. His face was beaten pretty badly.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

He didn't say anything, and only nodded his head. I reached out to touch his face, but he jerked away and stormed the other direction. I watched him go with a depressed expression. I was starting to wonder if things would ever get back to where they were. I turned my attention back to C-note and thanked him for helping me. He just shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on. Let's go get our cell," he suggested.

I nodded my head and followed him. He led over to where Westmoreland was standing. By the look on his face, he had witnessed the little altercation. I just gave him a soft smile, but I didn't say anything. I wasn't in the mood to say anything. We turned our attention to Geary coming out of the building. C-note took a deep breath and approached him. I stayed behind standing next to Westmoreland. He congratulated me on winning the money, and I couldn't help but smile. C-note handed the money over to Geary and I waited for him to tell us that we could have the cell. I got confused, though, when C-note's shoulders sank.

"Something's wrong," I said.

Westmoreland was about to ask me what I meant, but C-note came back to us. He looked downright pissed.

"He raised the price of the cell again," he explained.

Now I was pissed off. Geary could not keep doing this. I thought about sharing a few words with him, but C-note turned his attention to Westmoreland.

"Give me your watch to trade," he ordered.

I looked over to Westmoreland as he clutched his watch tighter. He has had that watch forever, and there was a picture of his daughter in there. How could he just hand it over? But he did. He handed over his watch to C-note and I thought I saw tears welling up in his eyes. C-note took it and hurried over to Geary. If this didn't work, I thought I was going to lose it. C-note handed over the watch to Geary, and he greedily accepted it. But then Geary said something, and then just started walking away. C-note looked shocked beyond belief and started hurrying for Geary. I had had just about enough of this little game and stormed after Geary calling back C-note.

"Geary!" I shouted running along the fence.

He turned around a gave me an annoyed look. I slammed my hands against the fence.

"What game are you playing at?" I hissed. "C-note gave you enough money, and you just blow him off."

Geary smirked at me.

"It's his problem that he didn't get the money on time. Somebody else is all set to move in."

I raised my eyebrow at him. Was he really trying to play me?

"You know I was thinking that after my assignment ends, I might take up a new case about dirty prison guards," I threatened.

That got his attention. He pushed himself up against the locker so we were staring at eye level. Rule number 1 buddy, don't mess with a federal agent.

"You rat me out, then what's to say I won't have a slip of the tongue and spill your secret? I would hate to see what would happen if Tbag found out."

My jaw dropped. Did those words really just come out of his mouth? He really just threatened to blow my operation just to protect himself. I was fuming so much that I was starting to breathe heavy. Geary only laughed at me and started to walk away. And I let him. There was nothing I could say as long as he held my secret over my head. I hung my head and made my way back over to C-note and Westmoreland. They were both looking at me hopefully, but I just shook my head. Poor Westmoreland lost his watch. I mouthed my apologies, but I knew that it probably meant nothing.

The three of us starting to head back towards Gen Pop. The hope was totally gone. We didn't know where to go from here. We were going to lose the cell, and they would find the hole. We were screwed.

"Laney!" we all heard someone shout.

I craned my head the other direction to see Tbag heading straight for me. Oh boy, I guess he was ready to discuss what happened. I looked back to C-note's and Westmoreland's worried expressions, and I told them to go on without me. I would hopefully catch up with them later. I stood still waiting for Tbag to approach me.

"How did it go with Geary?" he asked.

Ok, not the question I was expecting. And he didn't have a hateful tone in his voice, so maybe he wasn't going to bring it up.

"Geary is a dirty bastard who played us all for our money. We didn't get the cell."

Tbag sighed and put his hands up above his head. It made me smile as we continued to walk towards the buildings.

"Should I cut him?" offered Tbag.

I smiled again. There was Tbag back in action.

"I really don't think that would solve anything."

Tbag nodded in agreement.

"Besides there is only person in this place that I really want to cut," he said darkly.

And here I thought we could avoid this conversation. I guess I never really looked at Tbag in the face, but he was getting some nasty swelling on his face. We pretty much matched each other with bruising in the face.

"How's your face?" I asked.

"It's fine. You should see the other guy."

I turned to face Tbag and gave him a disapproving look. He tried to play the innocent victim card that I wasn't buying.

"It's not funny T."

"Tweener started it," he said acting like a child.

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh please, you were provoking him just so he would do something like that."

Tbag for once didn't know how to respond to that. He wasn't expecting that I had figured out his little game. I was pretty much finished with the conversation and started to leave when Tbag grabbed ahold of my wrist.

"I can't help it that I like you Laney. And for the first time I showed affection towards you and you didn't pull away, which means you like me too."

Whoa there! Tbag was just full of surprises. I was not ready for this little confession. And he just assumed that because I didn't reject him, it meant that I had feelings for him. That was crazy, wasn't it?

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"I want you to choose me. I want you to give this a chance."

I was really not prepared for this conversation. It was partly because I never thought in a million years would Tbag being saying this to me. The question was, if he was being genuine, or trying to manipulate me?

"Are you going to kill me if I say no?"

"It's a possibility," he smirked.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at the same time. The not so funny part was that I didn't know if he would actually kill me. He snapped on Tweener pretty quick.

"I'm not saying anything right now," I told him.

He seemed satisfied for the moment because I hadn't turned him down yet. We walked the rest of the way to go inside and get some food. Westmoreland and C-note were already sitting at our table, and they looked relieved to see me still alive. I headed over and took my seat next to Tbag. C-note told us all that if he ever sees Geary outside those walls, he was as good as dead. I wasn't even going to let them over the walls, and I would have let C-note kill Geary. We were just eating our food and discussing possible options when Sucre's cousin Miguel, or I heard his nickname in here was Manche', approached our table. I gave him a big smile. For some reason he just made me smile.

"I'm here to help you with your Scofield situation," he said.

My smile faded.

"What did you say?" growled Tbag.

"I said I can help you with Scofield," he repeated.

I didn't even have time to blink before C-note and grabbed ahold of Manche' and slammed his head against the table. I jumped and tried to reach out and help him, but Tbag held me back.

"Calm down, Lincoln and Sucre told me that if I helped get Scofield out of the psych ward I could get out on early parole."

I felt Tbag's grip tighten on my wrist. He definitely wasn't thrilled with this news. He let go of me and shoved his tray away and his food slopped all over. Manche' was trembling with fear.

"I suggest you take a walk before I give you a smack," threatened Tbag.

I hit Tbag in the chest. Were they forgetting that he was offering his help with Michael? So what if we added one extra person in on the escape. Nobody was going to get out of here if we didn't get Michael back. Manche' started backing away quickly, but Westmoreland must have been thinking the same thing I was and grabbed ahold of Manche' sitting him down.

"We need his help," demanded Westmoreland.

I think Tbag growled at Westmoreland before sitting down. I thought that I should try to calm him down before he hurt somebody. Like the card game, I took my hand underneath the table and rested it on his knee. He immediately relaxed and I had to fight back my giggle.

"We came up with an idea, but it is risky. The only way Michael is going to get out of psych ward is if he tells the warden what guard burnt him."

I started giggling at this. Everyone looked at me a confused look. They didn't get where this was going.

"If only there was a guard in here that we wanted to get rid of," I said with an evil grin.

Finally, they seemed to be understanding. I grinned and told Manche' to continue with his plan. Suddenly, this day just got a whole lot better.

I was pacing back and forth in the yard. I was nervous at hell. This plan had to go off without a hitch. I was also feeling a little guilty. We were pretty much ruining a man's life by doing this. I watched as the guards headed into the break room. It wouldn't be long now. I put my hands on my hips as I continued to pace. I had to admit that the plan was pretty genius considering Sucre and Lincoln came up with it. It was so evil that it sounded like something Tbag would even come up with.

I felt my breath catch when I saw the warden storming towards the break room. He looked absolutely fuming and I figured Michael probably 'confessed' what happened. I started moving closer to the fence as the warden slammed the door shut behind him. No doubt in my mind that the warden would be going through his locker, hopefully find the stolen money and the watch, but the deal breaker was going to be when he found the burnt uniform. No excuse would be able to save him from the warden's wrath. The corners of my mouth were starting to twitch upward when I thought about the warden's reaction. My eyes widened when I saw the door open.

The warden came storming back out holding a shirt in his hands. Bellick came out next looking downright pissed off. At whether this was because he had lost money, or because the guards got caught I didn't know. The next sight made me feel a little guilty. Out came a very shocked looking Geary. One of the other guards had collected his things, and he was being escorted out. The plan had worked, and Geary was leaving Fox River for good. He walked alongside Bellick and was just looking at his feet. He no doubt was probably wondering what the hell happened. As they walked by, Geary glanced over to where I was standing. To prove a point, a raised my eyebrow and waved my fingers at him. He scowled at me and looked away. I watched as the gates opened and Geary turned to say something to Bellick. He responded by whispering something.

I watched as Geary made his exit, but then something caught my eye. It was Lincoln coming outside. Just seeing him made me smile. What didn't make me smile was the fact that he was heavily handcuffed. And they were loading him into a van. Where was he going? The van drove out of the gates behind Geary, and the gates shut. Bellick started walking back towards the break room and I called him over.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Geary had threatened to tell the inmates about my secret. Am I in danger now that he got sacked?"

Bellick at first looked at me confused like how could I have known that Geary got fired? But he just shrugged it off.

"You'll be safe I promise."

It made me wonder if he promised Tweener that he would be safe. I had half a notion to confront him on it, but I thought better of it. There was another question I wanted to ask.

"Where is Lincoln going?"

"Visitation with his son. I am surprised they even let him go. He should be back tomorrow."

I nodded my head. I wondered if Michael knew that Lincoln was leaving. Bellick initiated the end of the conversation and walked away. I turned around and headed back for my cell. I got inside right when the guard was announcing the return of Michael Scofield. I could see him and I hurried over to where he was standing. I grinned and when I approached him I wrapped my arms around him. He returned the hug, and the others were standing right behind me.

"Good to be back," said Michael.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out Westmoreland's watch. Westmoreland's eyes beamed and he took it back. I was just watching everyone savoring this moment. Everyone was happy and I wished it could always be like this.


	88. Chapter 88

**A/N: Hey guys here is another update for you! I personally love this chapter. ;) I am getting closer and closer everyday to finish writing the end of this story. As always, feel free to send a review or message with anything on your mind. I love hearing from you guys! Enjoy =)**

I was walking behind Tbag out to the yard. With Michael back, it seemed like everyone was playing 20 questions. When are we escaping? How are we escaping? Did you figure out the rest of the blueprints? Can we pull it off? What else needs done? Michael silenced all of their questions.

"There is only one more thing that needs done. Since I had to change the plans, instead of coming up through the medical wing, we are going to have to go through the front door. I need the key."

I kept walking until Tbag and I were resting against one of the walls, but were facing the others. From where we were standing we had a good view of the whole yard. I always caught myself looking around.

"No problem just get Tweener to do one of those bump and swipe things," offered C-note.

My attention turned back at the mention of Tweener's name. I was thinking about him more and more since his little scuffle with Tbag. However, I didn't dare mention any of this to Tbag. I watched as Michael shook his head back and forth. The door to the yard opened and everyone turned their attention to see Sucre coming out. I laughed to myself as everyone welcomed Sucre back. He got a couple of hugs from Michael and Manche', and I even got a wink. Sucre needed to be caught up on everything.

"Only the doctors have access to those keys," Michael explained.

My eyes lit up when Michael said this. I was staring right at him, and when he turned to look at me, I gave him a big grin.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Tbag.

My grin got wider.

"Something he will probably hate doing," I teased.

Michael was trying to hide back his smile. Sucre seemed to understand where this was going too because he punched Michael on the arm. I turned my eyes away to see a bus pulling into Fox River. Oh great, some new inmates to worry about, and Tbag would probably try to torture some. Each one was stepping off of the bus, when I thought I saw a blast from the past. I had to do a double take to make sure I was seeing things right. My mouth dropped as I started to walk away from Tbag.

"Oh. My. God. No way!" I practically shouted bringing my hands up to cover my mouth.

The guys all followed to where I was staring. They all wore surprised expressions as they looked at the inmate walking by. Everyone actually looked pleased except for Tbag. I noticed that he looked particularly worried. I looked back at the inmate who I could have sworn made eye contact with briefly. I couldn't believe it he was back.

John Abruzzi.

I couldn't stop smiling. Everyone probably thought I had gone insane, but I couldn't stop smiling. John was back, and that meant that he didn't die. Tbag didn't kill him. It meant that I would get to stay a little longer and resume my old assignment. (I don't know why I was happy about that last part?) We all headed inside for breakfast. I kept turning my head spastically for any sign of John. Tbag was definitely a little tense. John wasn't know for just letting by gones be by gones, and I think Tbag was a little afraid. I separated from him to go get my food and head over to the table. I wondered if John would be back in my cell.

"Are you going to say hello Bella?" I heard the familiar voice ask.

I spun around and was looking up at Abruzzi himself. He looked different.

He looked older.

They had cut his hair to a very short length, and he was definitely a lot scruffier than the last time I had seen him. But another than that he was the same old John Abruzzi I knew. I broke into laughter and hurried over and threw my arms around him. He returned the hug and I felt him bury his face in my hair. I remembered the last time we had seen each other, and whether or not it would have been the last time. This hug felt as if nothing ever changed.

"How are you?" I asked.

He pulled back and craned his neck exposing his wound. There was a long cut along his throat, but it was healing. I reached out and gently brushed my fingers against his neck.

"That doesn't look so bad." I offered.

"Any day above ground is worth it," he spoke in almost a whisper.

I looked at him questioningly. He was definitely acting different. He was almost acting calm and peaceful. He reached out with his hand and grabbed a hold of my shirt. I immediately tensed up.

"How is your wound?" he said lifting up my shirt slightly.

I was trying to steady my breathing and he slipped his hand under the bottom of my shirt and traced where my gash was. Honestly, I hadn't looked at it that much since I was attacked. Whereas Abruzzi's cut was a long thin one from where Tbag quickly did it, mine cut was small but deep for a more slow torture. John removed his hand and gestured for me to sit down at the table. I did and I noticed that there was a bible resting on the table. I was staring at it for a little too long.

"Jesus Christ has helped me through my recovery," he explained. "Him and you of course."

I gave him a warm smile. I didn't think that I compared that well to Jesus, but it was nice knowing that he had been thinking about me.

"I'm glad you're back," I admitted.

"So what's new Bella? I couldn't help but notice that you were in quite a close proximity to Tbag this morning."

I bit my lip unsure of how to answer. Of course it would look weird that I was standing so close to someone that had tried to kill the both of us.

"It's complicated," I offered with a fake smile.

Abruzzi laughed and looked at me for a moment.

"How's Tweener?" he teased.

My smile faded and I looked down at the table. It wasn't John's fault for being so curious, but these questions were bringing up a lot of my own concerns.

"Complicated," I answered with a little less enthusiasm.

Abruzzi gave me a confused look.

"What happened?"

I tried my best to explain everything that had happened since he had left. Even though I didn't want to, I told him about how Tbag kissed me and then wanted me to give him a chance. He acted pretty indifferent to that part.

"Everything will work out in the end," he said mysteriously.

I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just nodded my head. I noticed that Tbag had sat down at a different table, but was watching me like a hawk. Abruzzi folded his hands together and started to pray. Not wanting to be rude, I followed like him and folded my hands and shut my eyes. Abruzzi and I finished our breakfast talking about various things. He told me while he was gone that he got to see his wife and kids briefly. He said that it was almost like he wasn't in prison anymore.

I asked Abruzzi if he still wanted to go on the escape. He looked at me like I was an idiot. Of course he still wanted to get out of here. John asked how Michael was doing, and I was a little surprised that he hadn't been over to talk to John yet. I looked around the room for him, but I didn't see him. He was probably off getting his flirt on with Sara trying to get that key. I laughed when I figured that she would probably willingly give it to him.

It also turned out that Abruzzi would be my cellmate again, and that was alright by me. We moved into the cell and he was just walking around and examining everything. Everything felt normal again to have John back in this cell, but this time I wasn't so scared all the time. I looked out the door and I saw Tweener heading for his cell. I felt the butterflies starting to creep in my stomach again. I smiled watching him walk, but he didn't look to happy. I could see Avocado sitting on his bunk, and anger started to fill me. I was so sick and tired of this guy making Tweener's life miserable. I was so mad I could have hit something. My eyes went wide with rage when I saw Avocado drop the sheet in front of their cell door. I felt like screaming but I held it all in. Avocado was messing with Tweener. My Tweener! I realized that I was gripping the bars to my cell extremely hard. I think Abruzzi was worried that I was going to hurt myself.

"Laney?"

I whipped around quickly still with hatred in my eyes. Abruzzi looked shocked but he didn't say anything. He just shifted something that I noticed he was holding behind his back.

"You know Bella, while I was in the hospital recovering; they allowed us some limited internet time. One day I searched you."

My stomach dropped. He searched me on the internet? What did he find?

"I found something very interesting."

I started to slowly back away. Suddenly, I was a little apprehensive of what he had hidden behind his back. He started to slowly approach me.

"I've seen how you write in that journal of yours," he admitted.

Oh god. He knew. He knew everything. He probably had a knife behind his back and he was going to stab me at any moment. I sucked in my breath waiting for it. He slowly removed his hand from behind his back.

"Happy Birthday Laney."

I opened my eyes in shock. He was holding a present in his hands. I examined it more carefully. It was a brand new journal with the word Bella elegantly scribed on the front. I took it from his hands and traced my fingers around the letters. He found out that it was my birthday, and decided to get me a gift. I had to admit it was sweet. I had completely lost track of the dates, and forgot that my birthday was coming up. I looked back up at John with a smile on my face.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Abruzzi smiled, but didn't back away. He cocked his head to the side.

"You looked a little nervous there for a minute. Did you have a secret you were scare I would find out about?"

I gripped the journal a little tighter. Surely if John knew anything then would have already killed me by now. I just looked up at him and shook my head.

He just smirked and nodded his head before turning away.


	89. Chapter 89

Tweener was sitting against a wall outside. His face was buried in his hands. I bit my lip trying to decide what to do. Before I even finished thinking, my feet started moving towards him. I was standing only a few inches from him and he hadn't lifted his head to look at me.

"Hey," I said.

His head immediately snapped up and he looked at me with absolute fear. By the look of his eyes, he had been crying. I felt my heart breaking. Tweener quickly tried to wipe his eyes, but I wasn't buying it. I knelt down so I was sitting beside him. I pulled my knees up under my chin.

"Everything ok?" I asked.

Tweener didn't answer he was just staring straight ahead. I followed his gaze to where Avocado was lying down with his eyes on us. He was glaring daggers at us, but I just gave him a nasty look.

"I don't even like baseball," said Tweener.

I looked at Tweener with a confused look. How was not liking baseball relevant?

"This kid in my neighborhood, his dad had a baseball card collection. So I figured I'd swipe it for some cash, you know. There was this one card in there, it was worth $300,000. So I got busted and convicted of grand larceny. That's why I'm here."

Tweener had started to cry, and I could feel the starts start to roll down my face. I think that the only reason I was crying was because he was crying.

"I'm getting turned out like a bitch because of a baseball card."

Tweener wiped his eyes and I was just staring at him. At that moment, I didn't care what had happened to us in the past. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to be by Tweener's side always. I leaned closer and with both hands I pulled Tweener's head closer to mine. I placed a kiss on his forehead. He leaned in and rested on my shoulder for a moment. I titled my head so it was resting on top of Tweener's head.

"Don't worry we will think of something," I whispered.

For a while, Tweener didn't say anything. I was just listening to him breathe. I wished we could stay like this the rest of the day.

"I love you Laney," whispered Tweener.

I pulled away from Tweener. Did he just say that he loved me? Something changed inside me and I was feeling a hundred different things. TWEENER JUST SAID HE LOVED ME! I quickly hopped up from where I was sitting and I think I almost knocked Tweener to the ground. I was practically running over to where Avocado was now standing. He wasn't even looking at me, so it surprised him when I came up right at him and punched him square in the face. He was a big man so he stumbled backwards a bit, but his lip had started to bleed. He looked at me and I could tell was thinking about charging me.

"Bring it on you son of a bitch!" I shouted jumping up and down a few times.

I started to stalk towards him, but somebody grabbed a hold of me. It was Tbag talking in my ear telling me to calm down. He obviously didn't trust me because he had picked me up by the waist and was carrying me backwards.

"Leave Tweener the hell alone!" I shouted one more time.

I let Tbag carry me off, but inside I was still fuming. I don't even really know why I did it. It just drove me crazy thinking that someone could cause him that much pain. Tbag finally put me down once we reached his cell and spun me around to face him.

"What has gotten into you?" he hissed.

I started pacing angrily back and forth in his cell.

"I am just so sick and tired of him treating Tweener that way. It's horrible."

Tbag was just watching me pace back and forth. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed a hold of my shoulders, prompting me to a stop.

"Since when do you care what happens to Tweener? He told you he didn't want anything to do with you."

Ok, I don't ever remember Tweener telling me that he didn't want anything to do with me. Was this Tbag just trying to get into my head?

"He told me he loved me today," I admitted.

Tbag's eyes went wide. He clearly was not expecting this. I couldn't get a read on if he was angry or not. He was just staring at me in shock.

"Are you sure he isn't playing you? Just telling you what you want to hear so that you will help him."

Now it was my turn to stare at Tbag in shock. Did he think that Tweener really didn't love me? I started to back away from him.

"No I think he was telling the truth," I said.

"But are you sure that you love him?"

Tbag started to get closer and closer to me. It was kind of freaking me out. I backed up until I pressed against the wall.

"You don't seem too sure to me Laneykins," he whispered in my ear.

I shut my eyes for a moment trying to think of the best thing to do in this situation. Tbag was still dangerously close to my ear. I opened my eyes when I heard somebody clear their throat. Tbag and I both turned our attention to Abruzzi standing in the doorway. Tbag tensed up immediately, and I tried to put some distance between us.

"I've had some time to think," Abruzzi began.

I looked over to Tbag. He looked downright petrified. I started to inch my way over to John.

"I've thought about not only did you try to kill me and Laney, but how Jesus had saved my life."

There he went with his Jesus speech again. Tbag still hadn't said anything, but was just staring at John.

"Now I have decided that I need to forgive you. So what do you say, truce?"

John held out his open hand to Tbag. In a way, it made me feel proud that Abruzzi didn't want to continue this fight with Tbag anymore. I just hoped that Tbag would agree because right now he looked a little leery.

"Show me your other hand," demanded Tbag.

I looked over to Abruzzi, and it was the first time since he had been back that I saw him look angry. He stalked into the cell.

"Don't insult me. Please after everything you have done, don't insult me," he whispered angrily.

Tbag was trying to think for a moment, but finally decided to shake Abruzzi's hand. I watched for a moment as the two enemies seemed to make peace for now.

"Doesn't a warm hand feel better than a cold shank?" offered Abruzzi.

The two of them started to laugh at the joke, and it made me smile to see them laugh. They released hands and Abruzzi signaled for me to come over to him. I started to move, but Tbag stepped in my way.

"We weren't finished with our discussion."

I didn't know what to say, so I just side stepped him and approached Abruzzi. I guess for good show, he wrapped his arm around my waist and together we walked out of Tbag's cell. I knew this truce probably wouldn't last long. We made it back to our cell, and I flopped on my bunk. This day had been rather interesting. Abruzzi coming back, Tweener professing his love to me, Tbag I think professing his feelings for me, and the escape getting set in motion. I was stressed beyond belief. I still didn't even know what I was planning to do about the escape. I had let Tweener and Tbag side track me. Abruzzi was just watching me think on my bunk, and I wondered what he was thinking. I'm sure it had something to do with Tbag.

"Go ahead and say it," I said.

He just smirked at me.

"I could have sworn Tbag was going to kiss you when I showed up," he admitted.

"Wouldn't have been the first time."

"But I don't think you would have pulled away this time."

I looked up Abruzzi with a mean face, which only made him laugh. The truth was that he was probably right. Tbag was getting increasingly harder to fight off, which may have been his plan the whole time. I was about to respond when I heard somebody screaming at the top of their lungs. Abruzzi and I both made a run for the cell door to see what was happening. I looked down, and of course the screaming was coming from Tweener's cell. I suddenly had this horrible feeling that Tbag might be doing something awful to Tweener, so without a second thought I sprinted down the stairs to Tweener's cell.

The door was open and the sheet was hanging from the door. I hurried and looked into the cell, and saw Avocado screaming in pain on the floor, and Tweener was standing above him holding a razor blade. There was blood everywhere, and it looked like Tweener had cut Avocado's….um well he cut his man parts. Tweener looked up at me with a shocked expression.

"What happened?" I blurted.

He didn't even answer me. He just hurried out of the cell that I had to back up quickly and bumped into the railing. He grabbed the sides of my face with his hands and brought his lips down to mine. I felt my right foot rising in the air. As our lips moved together, I brought my arms up around his neck pressing ourselves together tighter. I didn't care that probably the whole prison was watching us make out, all I cared about was this moment right here with Tweener. He moved his arms so they were wrapped securely around my waist before breaking the kiss.

I was staring into his eyes and panting heavily. He only grinned and leaned in for another light kiss. I smiled and eagerly accepted. It would have been perfect, but the only thing ruining the moment was Avocado's pained moans in the background. I stopped kissing Tweener when the guards came by.

"What happened?" they growled looking at Avocado.

I looked at Tweener with a scared expression, and I wrapped my arms snuggly around him. I was proud of him for standing up to Avocado, but I knew he would get in serious trouble for doing this. When Tweener didn't answer, the guards started shouting about what happened.

"Nothing, I did it getting off of my bunk," choked back Avocado.

I looked back to Tweener with a confused expression. Why would Avocado be taking the fall for this? Didn't he want Tweener to get punished? The guards were able to get Avocado up and take him to the medical wing. Tweener's cell was covered with blood. It kind of grossed me out a little. I turned my attention back to Tweener. He had a worried expression on his face.

"What really happened?" I asked.

"Well, after your little performance in the yard, Avocado was going to teach me some manners. I stopped him."

I looked at Tweener apologetically. I didn't mean to get him into trouble. I just acted before I had time to think about what I was doing. Tweener could see the guilt in my eyes and brought me closer to him. I breathed in his scent.

"Aren't you happy that Avocado is gone?" I asked.

"I would be if he hadn't taken the fall. Now I am stuck here when he gets back."

I never had thought of that before. That was Avocado's plan all along. He did want Tweener to get punished, but he wanted to do it by his own hand. I became scared and pulled myself into Tweener for a hug. I was afraid that if I let go, I might not ever get to hug him again. I gripped tighter when I heard the guard call Tweener's name. Of course they wanted to talk to him about what happened. He pulled me away from him and touched my forehead with his forehead.

"I will be alright, I promise," he said kissing my forehead.

He stepped away from me to follow the guards. It felt like a piece of me was going with him (I know that sounds corny, but hey that is how I felt). I needed something to distract me for a while so I could get my mind off of Tweener. Well just off of worrying about him. I still wanted to think about him. I just noticed that Michael had strolled in from his visit with the doctor. I thought I would give him a rough time and ask how his visit went.

"Hey Michael," I called out.

He looked over to where I was calling and smiled as I hurried over to him. I hadn't got to spend much time with Michael lately, and we haven't talked recently.

"How is Sara?" I teased.

Michael grinned and I swore that I saw him blush. Something definitely happened when he went up there today. I raised my eyebrows waiting for an answer.

"I need that key," he explained.

This was getting interesting. He was trying to explain his behavior to me before he actually told me what happened. This was juicy.

"I kissed Sara, and she kissed me back."

I felt my jaw drop. They finally kissed. I just couldn't believe it was right there in her office. And Michael was trying to play it off as though he did it just to get that key.

"Now that is sacrifice," I mocked.

Michael just shook his head back and forth. I asked him if was even able to get the key, and he replied that he wasn't able to grab it. He didn't look worried though, so I figured that he had something planned to get it.

"What about yourself Laney? I saw you up there with Tweener, your love life seems to be taking off."

Now it was my turn to blush. I really wasn't the kind of person to display my personal affections in public, but something about Tweener made me want to kiss him every time that Iaid eyes on him. I couldn't control the smile that was starting to creep on my face. Michael was grinning at the look on my face and I punched him in the arm.

"Oh shut up," I muttered.


	90. Chapter 90

I stayed and talked with Michael for just a little longer. We were just catching up on things and chatting like old friends. It honestly made me feel less worried about Tweener. We only stopped talking when the guards told him that he had a visitor. I was wandering around aimlessly for a while until I saw Abruzzi sitting in his cell and reading his bible. Just the sight made me giggle. I was going to turn around and leave him at peace, but I noticed Tbag on the other side of the room just watching Abruzzi. The only reason it made me nervous was because Tbag had a look of malice.

I slowly started to approach him. He was definitely up to something and I wanted to know what. That's when I saw it. Tbag had slipped out a knife from his sleeve into his hand. He started to stalk towards Abruzzi. I hurried up to catch him and I grabbed onto his wrist with both of my hands.

"What do you think you're doing?" I hissed through clenched teeth.

He turned to stare at me menacingly. I let go of his wrist and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"I'm just defending what's mine," he said darkly.

What the hell was he talking about?

"I'm sure you will still be going on the escape with Abruzzi and the others."

Tbag raised one of his eyebrows and smirked at me.

"That's not what I mean."

It took me a minute to realize what he saying and then my eyes widened.

"Me? This is about me?"

"Like I said, I am defending what is mine," he said possessively biting his lip.

I shook my head back and forth.

"I don't belong to you," I spat.

Tbag turned the knife around in his hand a few times before turning it so it was facing me.

"I thought you were going to give us a chance?"

"I hadn't made my choice yet," I explained.

The conversation had officially gotten awkward for the day, and I tried to move away, but now Tbag grabbed ahold of my wrist.

"So make it now," he growled.

I jerked my wrist from his grasp. I could feel the anger bubbling up inside me. Fine, if that's the way he wanted to play it, then I would tell him the truth.

"Don't make me choose," I threatened, "because you won't like my choice."

Tbag's eyes flashed with rage and he stormed towards me. I put my hands up in a defensive motion to stop him.

"And why is that Laneykins?"

I sighed.

"One, because you have tried to hurt or kill me on numerous occasions," I said a little too loudly.

Tbag didn't seemed fazed.

"And two?"

I bit the inside of my cheek before answering.

"My heart belongs somewhere else."

The look on Tbag's face was enough to make me feel guilty for the rest of my life. He honestly thought that my heart belonged to him. I didn't even know what to say to him. How was I supposed to make him feel better about this?

"He's broke your heart before, how do you know that he won't do it again?"

I looked at him angrily.

"Don't do that! I'm sorry but he is my choice. And as long as he is around I will always choose him!"

Tbag smirked again and came close enough to lean down and whisper in my ear.

"As long as he is around," he echoed in a threatening tone.

I turned my head and gave him a nasty glare. He was helping his case any by threatening Tweener. I didn't even say anything, but instead just stormed away. I went barging into my cell and kicked the nearest wall. I hated that Tbag could push me to these different reactions. Why couldn't I just feel indifferent towards him? I hated to admit that I did feel something for him. However, nothing could compare to the feeling I would get when I would kiss Tweener. And that's the gospel truth.

"Problem Bella?" asked Abruzzi not looking up from his bible.

"Just Tbag," I groaned.

Suddenly, I stopped what I was saying. I didn't want to tell Abruzzi that Tbag was planning on stabbing him again, and I stopped him because how would Abruzzi react. I just collapsed onto my bunk next to Abruzzi. I was staring up at the blood stain on the bed, and laughed to myself. Abruzzi looked at me confused.

"I remember looking at that stain my very first day here," I admitted.

Abruzzi chuckled to himself.

"I remember your first day here. I didn't like you very much at first."

"Oh really, I didn't know that. I thought you just carved my back because you did that your closest friends" I mocked.

"We've come a long way," he stated.

I smiled at that. He was right we have had come a long way. From quite possible the worst enemies, to quite possibly one of my closest (dare I say friends).

"I wonder what will happen to us when we get out of here," he whispered.

God, Abruzzi was sure acting mysterious since he got back. He kept talking about things in the future, and what will happen to us when we escape. I still wasn't entirely sure how I was going to handle the escape. I mean I knew that I couldn't let them escape, but I still hadn't worked out all of the details. Considering the escape was a few days away, I should probably get it sorted out.

"That reminds me," said Abruzzi, "I need to talk to Michael about something."

He got up from the bunk and offered his hand to me. I took it and together we left our cell in search for Michael. It didn't take long to find him out in the yard. Abruzzi sped up to approach him, and I almost had to jog to keep up with Abruzzi.

"Michael," he called, "I need to know where he is."

Michael looked up curiously at Abruzzi. I didn't even know who he was referring to.

"I need to reach out to Fibonacci so he can forgive my transgressions and together we can heal."

Fibonacci? He was still going on about that. I guess it was kind of sweet that Abruzzi wanted to meet Fibonacci so he could seek forgiveness. I guess Michael wasn't buying it.

"The answer is still no," said Michael with a smirk.

There was no doubt in my mind that Michael was not buying this forgiveness act. He believed that Abruzzi was still going to kill Fibonacci when he got the chance. Abruzzi put his hands up in surrender.

"Fine, I will be patient," said Abruzzi.

Abruzzi started to walk away and looked at me to follow him, but I told him that I will catch up with him later. He nodded his head and walked away. I turned to look back at Michael.

"You still don't trust him?" I asked.

Michael smirked.

"Not as far as I can spit."

That made me smile for what I don't know, but there I was smiling. Just smiling made me think about Tweener, and then something dawned on me.

"Michael can I ask you something?"

He raised eyebrows suggesting for me to continue.

"Tweener is in trouble. Avocado has done horrible things to him, and he is going to get himself hurt worse. "

I was trying to play on Michael's guilt to get me through this conversation. After all, if Michael hadn't asked Tweener to get that watch in the first place, then Tweener wouldn't even be in this mess.

"I want him to go on the escape with us."

Michael's eyes widened just a little bit. I could see the conflict rising within him. He did feel guilty about what was happening Tweener, but he didn't want anybody else on the escape. I gave him my biggest puppy dog eyes.

"I will think about it," he said.

All I could do was smile.

_John Abruzzi made his way over to the phones. He needed to call someone and it was extremely important. The phone rang a few times before somebody answered._

_"Hello?"_

_"It's me. You are on official standby. We need the plane ready to go in a couple of days. Do you remember the location?"_

_"No problem I will be there," the voice replied. _

_Abruzzi smiled to himself. He was finally going to be able to get of this hell and get back with his family. There was just a few more things he needed to take care of. _

_" Good. Make sure all of the uh 'tools' are in the right location as well," he said._

_The voice on the other line scoffed. Abruzzi looked over to where Laney was talking to Michael and she laughed at something he said. He watched her momentarily. _

_"The kid still won't tell you where Fibonacci is?"_

_Abruzzi laughed to the voice._

_"No, but he will. He won't want to see the girl get hurt. He will tell me whether he wants to or not. Laney's too important to him."_

_Another scoff._

_"I still think you should have just killed the bitch when you found out that she's working for the FBI."_

_Abruzzi smiled to himself. He hadn't been completely honest with Laney. It is true that he had searched her on the internet and found out that it was her birthday today, but he also found something more interesting. He found a picture of Laney graduating from school and getting her first job with the FBI. She was clearly sent to Fox River undercover to spy on Abruzzi. He had thought that he would just kill her the moment he stepped foot back into prison, but he had decided against it. _

_"No, if I kill her then I get sent into solitary with no chance of escaping. Plus, she hasn't turned us in yet. I think her emotions are starting to affect her. I want to see what she is planning. But once we are outside those walls I am going to cut that pretty little throat of hers."_

_The voice on the other line chuckled darkly and it made Abruzzi smile. He looked back over to Laney, who was looking back at him. She offered him a sweet smile, and he only smirked at her. He figured it would probably be difficult killing her, but she had been lying to him from the beginning, and if she tried to stop the escape then he would make her suffer greatly._


	91. Chapter 91

I was done talking to Michael, but Abruzzi was still on the phone, so I decided to take a nice stroll by myself. There was something that I had been thinking about, and I had decided that it was the route I needed to take. I spotted Tweener standing by himself next to the bleachers. I didn't know that he was done speaking to the guards so I hurried over to where he was standing.

"Hey there," I said stepping up to him.

He gave me a slight smile.

"Hi," he said solemnly.

I leaned in close to him so our shoulders were touching. He was acting strangely. It made me wonder what the guards talked to him about.

"How did it go?"

"They asked me what happened to Avocado, and I told them that he cut himself getting off of his bunk."

I stayed silent waiting for him to continue the story, but he was just staring off into space. I had to nudge his shoulder to snap him out of it.

"Now Avocado is going to kill me when he gets out of the medical wing and there is nothing I can do about it!" he shouted.

It made me jump and I could see the fear in Tweener's eyes. I wanted to do anything to make the fear disappear. I rested my head on his shoulder briefly.

"There is one way you will be safe," I admitted.

Tweener scoffed like he didn't believe me. I looked up at him and kept on staring until he met my gaze.

"Tell Bellick."

He looked at me with a confused expression. Like he couldn't believe what I was suggesting.

"Tell Bellick about the escape, and he will move you to a different cell," I explained.

Tweener started shaking his head.

"If I talk to Bellick, then those guys, your friends, won't be able to escape."

I nodded my head like that was the whole point. Tweener completely turned to face me and took both of my hands in his own.

"Why are you doing this? Letting me do this?"

I gave a small laugh and stepped closer to Tweener. I looked up into his beautiful eyes.

"Because I care about you more than I care about any of them. And I can't stand to see you in pain or upset. And… and because I love you."

He was just staring at me for a moment. I looked at him waiting for him to say something, but he was just staring at me in shock. Finally he was grinning from ear to ear. He pulled me into him so our foreheads were touching. We were just staring at each other smiling. This was all that mattered to me right now. I loved Tweener and he loved. I would do anything to preserve that. Plus, I had finally figured out what to do about the escape situation. They would get busted without finding out that Tweener told Bellick, or that I was working undercover. It would be the best thing for the both of us. I briefly glanced to my right, then quickly did it again. There was Lincoln standing on the other side of the fence with his hands and feet cuffed. What worried me was that his face was completely bruised and banged up. I thought he was just going to see his son? Warden Pope was standing there talking to Lincoln, and the conversation didn't look too good. Tweener saw me staring in that direction and he turned his head so he could see.

"Something's wrong," I said.

Tweener shrugged his shoulders like he had no idea. As much as I wanted to know what was happening with Lincoln, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Bellick had stepped away and was walking by himself along the fence.

"Tweener, go," I said kissing his cheek.

Tweener nodded and quickly started making his way towards the fence. I nervously watched as he reached Bellick and tried to get his attention. I don't know what he said, but Bellick finally approached Tweener. They were chatting about something, hopefully moving him to another cell. I watched as Bellick's eyes widened with excitement. He took off from Tweener and started moving towards the break room. I had to take a deep breath to steady myself. Bellick was off to find the hole.

To bust the guys on their escape.


	92. Chapter 92

The guys had gathered together next to the fence to discuss the future plans. I had thought that maybe Michael knew what had happened to Lincoln. I started to head for Tbag, but stopped awkwardly right in the middle. I figured that I shouldn't be standing next to the guy that I just said I would never have feelings for. I turned around and went to stand next to Abruzzi. I had lost sight of Tweener after he talked to Bellick. Maybe he went with Bellick to find the hole. The whole gang was standing by the fence, except for Lincoln and Westmoreland. We all turned our heads when we heard the bark of a dog.

"Damn dogs. Every time I get nabbed by the police are because of the dogs." said Tbag.

I tried to keep avoiding eye contact with Tbag, but I was finding it difficult because he kept making me smile. I caught him looking over at me. I returned my gaze to the ground and was kicking the ground.

"You can never outrun your own smell no matter where you go," he explained.

C-note scoffed like he didn't believe a word of this. It was probably just because it was Tbag who said it. I thought it sounded pretty legit to me.

"For example, even though in this place, Laneykins always smells like…" Tbag said sniffing the air, "lilacs."

I felt my face going red. I smelled like lilacs? Tbag had been identifying my scent in here. Maybe that is why he was always putting his face in a close proximity to mine. He was catching my scent.

"We need to scrub down our cells," explained Michael.

That sounded like a lot of work to me. Scrubbing down the entire cell. What about the bunks, sheets, and pillows?

"Everything gets scrubbed, if you can't get rid of your smell then change it," said Tbag.

I had no idea how I was supposed to change my lilac scent something else. Maybe Abruzzi could think of something for our cell. In reality, it didn't matter because Bellick was going to find that hole any minute and the escape would be busted. I spotted Westmoreland making his way over to us.

"How much time do we have?" asked a very anxious C-note.

"Three days is when I can get us into the break room again," said Abruzzi.

Three days? Good God, that was approaching quickly. They were so close, and yet so far away from freedom.

"Alright, three days," Michael agreed.

Westmoreland finally reached where we were standing. He looked absolutely panicked. Something definitely had him spooked. He walked right up to Michael.

"We have to get out of here now!" he hissed.

We all looked at Westmoreland with confused looks.

"Bellick found the hole."

Everybody looked at Westmoreland with wide eyes, but I was just staring off into space. What would happen if they found out about what Tweener and I did? Wait, but what happened to Bellick?

"I don't even know how he found it," explained Westmoreland, "it is only a matter of time before they figure out that Bellick is missing."

Ok, so the plan wasn't totally dead yet. Practically nothing in here gets done without Bellick's say so, so as long as Tweener or I could get the guards to find Bellick, the escape could still get busted. We had three days, I just had to find wherever Tweener was. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I almost missed what Michael said next.

"So we leave tonight."

They were going to escape tonight? There was no way that Tweener and I could pull this off in a few hours. We were going to have to figure out another way to make sure he didn't face the wrath of Avocado. The guys started walking along the fence, and I absentmindedly followed behind Abruzzi.

"C-note can you get some peroxide from the kitchen?"

He nodded his head like it wouldn't be any problem. The peroxide was so we could scrub down our cells. Michael continued his explanation.

"We need to be ready by 7 o clock to go one by one through the hole in my cell."

Everyone again look wide eyed at Michael. Now, they weren't going through the break room anymore. All of us were going through Michael's cell. I figured that a few of the inmates and the guards would probably notice like 8 of us all going into one cell and not coming out.

"Come on Michael. Count is at 8 o clock. That would only give us an hour," Sucre tried to reason.

"Then we have 60 minutes to get the hell out of here," he retorted.

Michael started walking, so we assumed that was the end of the discussion. Everyone was in a bad mood after today's turn of events and we started trudging back to our cells. There was work that needed to be done. Tbag looked particularly pissed off, so I slowly approached him.

"Are you sure you want come this close Laneykins, I might make you choose between brussle sprouts or broccoli for dinner."

Ok, I probably deserved that. He apparently was taking our conversation a lot harder than I thought he would. I thought it would probably be best if I just left him alone. I turned to leave.

"What do you want?" he asked.

I turned and just looked at him for a moment. Even though he was asking in a rude way, Tbag still wanted to talk to me. His face suddenly turned dark.

"Stop staring at me with those eyes," he commanded.

I immediately looked down to the ground. I didn't even know what I did wrong, but the anger in Tbag's voice made me want to comply to whatever he said.

"I just wanted to know how I was supposed to get rid of the smell of lilacs?"

I heard Tbag chuckle at my question. I was being completely serious, though I had no idea how to get rid of a scent. It sounded like the only person who would be good at it is Tbag.

"My sweet Laneykins, I would never tell you of a way to get rid of your tantalizing aroma," he said biting his lip.

I rolled my eyes and we started walking again. I asked him again very sweetly if there was some way that I could not smell like lilacs.

"How about I help you temporarily mask your aroma just until we escape?"

I grinned at him.

"That sounds wonderful," I mocked.

We laughed together as we made our way into Gen Pop. We were laughing and carrying on just like we used to before everything got so complicated.

"Let's go get something to eat," ordered Tbag.

I followed him without objection. We walked in silence for a little while, but I knew that Tbag wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut for long.

"Just think that by tonight I will be out of this place."

Not if I could help it. I gave Tbag a slight smile, but on the inside I felt sick. How could I let someone like Tbag walk free on the streets? After everything that he has done.

"What are your plans after you get out?" I asked.

Tbag smiled evilly.

"There is somebody I need to pay a visit to. I promised her when I got out I would stop by."

I raised my eyebrow. Did he honestly think I would forget his little story about how he got arrested? He was going to try and find his ex-girlfriend and her kids and do God knows what to them. There was no way that I would be able to sleep at night if I let them get hurt by letting Tbag go free.

We made our way through the lunch line getting our trays of food. It smelled absolutely disgusting. The brussle sprouts alone were enough to make me sick. Sure enough, Tbag grabbed a handful of his brussle sprouts and jammed them into his pocket. I felt my stomach flip when I realized what he was doing.

"Do you want to mask your smell or not?" he said offering his slimy hand.

I had to force the vomit back down my throat as I let Tbag secretly take a handful of brussle sprouts and jam them into my pocket.

"Funny thing Laneykins, most people are usually grabbing my pockets, not the other way around," he said grabbing my leg through my pocket.

I smacked his hand away from he and he only grinned. I was going to say something back, but I spotted Tweener sitting down to a table by himself. Tbag caught me staring.

"I'm going to go find some more of these for later," he said flicking some of hair.

I gave him another slight smile.

"I will catch up with you later then."

I looked to Tbag one last time before we went our separate ways.


	93. Chapter 93

Tweener grinned when he saw me approaching him. Just seeing him smile instantly made my day better. I sat down at the chair opposite him, and he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"What's that smell?" he asked with a grimace.

I tried to hide my grin.

"Brussle sprouts. Tbag is helping me mask my smell," I explained.

Tweener looked at me with a peculiar face. As to why Tbag was helping me do anything.

"They are doing it for the escape. Trying to change your smell."

Tweener rolled his eyes.

"I wouldn't want to change your smell. You smell like a flower, almost like lilacs or something."

I started laughing out loud. It was too funny that Tbag and Tweener both thought I smelled like the same thing. Tweener looked like he didn't know why I was laughing, and I just told him not to worry about it. Suddenly, he looked very serious.

"So they are still escaping?" he whispered.

I knew what he was really asking. He wanted to know if Bellick found the hole or not. I opened my mouth to explain what happened, but a shadow out of the corner of my eye made me shut my mouth. Tweener was staring up at Michael, who was sort of giving us the weird look. Like he knew some secret about us that he wasn't sharing.

"Tonight," he said staring right at Tweener.

My eyes widened. This could not be happening right now. He was not inviting Tweener on the escape. Not right after we tried to bust them. Tweener looked like he couldn't believe it either. He opened his mouth to say something, but Michael cut him off.

"Laney can give you the details," he said before walking off.

As he left, Tweener and I were sitting there staring at each other in shock.

"Now what?" he asked.

I just shrugged my shoulders because honestly I had no idea what to do. Letting Tweener go on the escape would get him away from Avocado, but that meant I would actually have to let them go through with the escape. Tweener must have noticed my internal battle because he reached out and took my hand in his own.

"Don't worry we will figure everything out."

I tried to give a convincing smile, but it wasn't working. There was so many things running through my head, and this only added to the confusion.

"So what happened with Bellick?" he asked.

I took a deep breath not really sure where to start.

"I guess he did find the hole, but Westmoreland knocked him out before he could do anything about it."

Tweener leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. We were both thinking the same thing, how did everything get so messed up?

"It's your call Laney, what do you want to do?"

Why did it have to be my call? I knew what he wanted to do, but I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. He of course would want to be out of prison, but it wasn't worth the risk to me of adding time to his bid.

"Let's wait and see if the guards can figure out what happened to Bellick," I said.

He looked a little disappointed, but he nodded his head. We finished eating our food and stood up from the table together. We walked hand in hand as we exited the cafeteria and made our way back to our cells. I needed to find John and talk to him about all of this, but for right now I was pretty content with holding Tweener's hand. We laced our fingers and our thumbs were moving together in a circle.

"It doesn't matter what we decide to do Laney. As long as we are together, then nothing else matters to me."

I looked up into his face. It felt like my heart was beating twice as fast. No one had ever made me feel this way before. I didn't say anything in response, instead I leaned in close and gently pressed our lips together. Every time that we kissed sparks were flying. It had always been that way since I had first been dared to kiss him. I needed Tweener in my life there was no doubt in my mind. If he couldn't escape, then I had to do everything in my power to make sure his time in prison got reduced. I pulled apart from the kiss (much to my dismay) and whispered in Tweener's ear.

"I have an idea."

Before he could even ask what it was, I hurried across the room and out into the yard with my eyes set on my destination.

The break room.

I sneakily made my way over to the front door so nobody would see me. I quietly opened the door and slipped inside. It was eerily silent inside and it definitely felt like something was off in here. I took my time walking around the room and examining everything. A fight took place in here that much was clear. The coffee pot had shattered and the glass shards were lying on the counter. I hope no one was seriously injured. I moved over to where the table was covering the hole. I pushed it to the side and pulled the tarp over to one corner of the room. Now, I was staring at this really terrible cement job of where the hole was. I suspected that Westmoreland did this in a hurry. I bent down and ran my fingers over the covered hole.

"What do you think you're doing?" I heard someone hiss.

I instantly pulled my hand away like I had touched something that was hot. I looked up to see Tbag staring down at me.

"I, I'm," I started.

Tbag lunged to where I was squatting and grabbed a hold of my hair pulling my head backwards. I squealed in pain.

"I'm going to ask you again. What are you doing?"

My lower lip was starting to tremble as I tried to pull Tbag's hand out of my hair.

"I just wanted to make sure that Bellick was still alive," I lied.

The anger in Tbag's eyes didn't fade much as he stared down at me.

"And what would've happened if a guard had come in here before I did huh?"

That's the whole point dumbass. Of course, I really couldn't say that to Tbag, but I was counting on one of the guards to come in while I was checking in on Bellick. I suddenly felt a burst of energy and violently tried to pull myself away from Tbag.

"Sorry if I'm the one decent person in here and made sure he was alright," I spat.

Then Tbag did something I never expected him to do anymore. He slapped me hard across the face. I brought my hand up to my stinging cheek and was staring at Tbag with wide eyes. I don't know why I thought he wouldn't hit me. Maybe, it had something to do with the fact that he admitted he had feelings for me, and you don't hit people you care about. But this was Tbag again. He raised his hand like he was going to hit me again, and I shut my eyes waiting for the blow. But it never came. I opened one eye to see what was going on. Tbag was watching me for a minute, and then pulled me to my feet and half dragged me out of the break room.

He didn't let go of my elbow as we made our way into the yard. The other guys were doing various yard work, but stopped to watch us approach them. Tbag quickly signaled everyone to come over to where we were standing.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I hissed.

Tbag looked at me with no sympathy.

"I'm telling them about your little stunt."

"Why? I didn't do anything, I just wanted to make sure he was ok. Please T," I whispered.

Tbag pulled me closer to him roughly so our faces were just inches apart. He leaned down towards my ear.

"Remember Laneykins, you said you would never choose me. So you don't get to use your sweet innocence to make me feel guilty."

Damn he saw right through that. I bit my lip as Tbag pushed me away from him. About the same time that the others finally joined us with confused looks.

"Thought you guys might like to know what Laneykins has been up to lately," he started.

I started to argue, but one look from Tbag made me shut up.

"I caught her in the break room looking down at the hole that ole' Bellick is in."

"That's not fair, I just wanted to make sure that he was alright," I defended.

The guys were staring at me with wide eyes. A few of them had anger behind their gazes. Abruzzi had cocked his head to the side and was giving me a curious look.

"She's just lucky it was me that came in instead of a guard," said Tbag.

Funny, I didn't feel very luck that Tbag was the one that caught me. My stinging cheek could attest to that. Sucre and Michael even seemed to be staring at the red mark on my face.

"What happened to her cheek?" Sucre asked.

I dropped my gaze to the ground not wanting to answer that question. Tbag probably didn't want me squealing that he had hit me. Michael wouldn't like that very much. Tbag promptly tried to avoid that subject.

"The more important problem is that she doesn't try this again," he said.

My head snapped up and I crossed my arms over my chest. Tbag was acting absolutely ridiculous over this whole situation.

"Look I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking about the guards coming in. I just wanted to make sure that Bellick wasn't dead."

Nobody said anything, but they were just staring at me. What they didn't know (and I wasn't going to tell them) was if I got the chance again, I would go 'check' on Bellick.

"I will keep an eye on her," said Abruzzi softly.

I immediately started shaking my head in an annoyed way. There was no way in hell that I was getting a babysitter until the escape. But none of the others were coming to my aid.

"Last time I checked, I was a grown ass woman, and I don't need anybody to watch me," I spat.

Still, none of the other guys were coming to my defense. They agreed to let Abruzzi keep an eye on me. My jaw dropped to the side a little because that was my annoyed face. I didn't even try to argue anymore, I just turned and stomped away.

I was fuming when I stormed away from the guys. Who the hell did they think they were to boss me around like that? I wasn't a child. I was a federal agent for God's sake, and they had no right. It didn't matter that their intentions were right on the spot. Given the chance, I probably would try to help Bellick again. Now Abruzzi wasn't going to leave me alone. Luckily, I spotted Tweener raking some leaves and I stormed over to where he was standing. He looked up at me with a surprised expression.

"Is everything ok?" he asked.

I let out a long huff of frustration.

"No, I went to try and let Bellick out, but Tbag caught me."

Tweener suddenly noticed the red mark on my cheek, and his eyes widened in fear. I reached out and held onto one of his hands.

"He didn't hurt me don't worry, but they are all pretty angry. Now they have given me a babysitter to make sure I won't try it again."

"It could be worse, they could have just killed you," said Tweener.

I gave him a look like that wasn't funny. He only grinned at me.

"I told them I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't dead. They wouldn't have killed me for that," I responded.

"If their escape had been busted they would have."

I rolled my eyes. If their escape got busted, then Tweener and I would be out of this mess.

"We still need to figure out what to do," I whispered.

He closed the distance between and we were just standing there looking at each other. I brought my hand up to rest on the side of his face.

"Laney," I heard Abruzzi call out.

I let out another frustrated huff and dropped my hands to my sides. Tweener only smiled at me.

"Tweener come over here and help me," Westmoreland called out.

I rolled my eyes again. They were clearly trying to keep us apart.

"They must think we are conspiring against them," I said annoyed.

Tweener only smirked.

"We kind of are."

That made me smile and we let put some space between us by Tweener walking the opposite way. I watched him walk a bit before turning towards Abruzzi. I mustered up the meanest scowl I could and marched over to where he was standing. While marching, I put both my hands on my hips. I looked downright pissed off at the world. Abruzzi was busy putting soil in his pockets for the smell, and staring at Tbag. It was a little creepy actually. They would just be working away while never taking their eyes off each other. Like they were afraid that if they looked away something might happen.

When Abruzzi saw me coming, I just titled my head to the sky and marched right past him. That would show him that he wasn't my babysitter. I didn't really know where to go, though, so I found Michael. He seemed to be the one that was the least mad at me. I approached slowly and gave him a smile when he saw me. Thank God he returned it. Michael looked just about as stressed as I did these days. Everything was on his shoulders that the escape would go off without a hitch. The biggest dilemma was going to be his brother. I found out that Lincoln was in a car accident when he was going to visit his son, and he took off, but Bellick was able to get him. Michael seemed to believe that it was a set up and someone was trying to kill Lincoln. The worst part was, the warden put Lincoln under 24 hour lockdown, so it was going to be difficult to get access to him. Michael would think of a way though, he always does. Suddenly, I remembered something that I had meaning to tell Michael.

"I caught Tbag getting ready to stab Abruzzi earlier," I admitted, "I have a feeling that the 'peace' between them isn't going to last much longer."

Michael looked at me confused for a moment.

"Well as long as Abruzzi is still on his religious kick, I think we will be ok."

"Michael, look at them."

We both turned our attention to Abruzzi and Tbag just staring daggers at each other. There was no way this was going to last much longer. Michael seemed to get the point.

"Alright, get everyone together so we can have a meeting in the locker room. And that includes Tweener."

My face lit up at the mere mention of Tweener's name. But then I gave Michael a skeptical look.

"Locker room? As in the guy's locker room where you guys get changed? Why would I want to go in there?"

Michael looked so annoyed with me right now that he could probably have hit me. Here we were merely hours from the escape, and I was whining about meeting in the locker room. I smiled at him and told him I would get everybody into the locker room pronto. The first person I would go talk to of course would be Tweener.


	94. Chapter 94

**A/N: Hey guys! Holy cow I am almost up to 100 chapters, and the story is almost finished! I never thought I would finally get to this point. I am on Fall Break this week so I have lots of free time to write, so be on the lookout for two updates today! These next chapters make me so nervous, but so fun to write. As always, your reviews and messages are welcome and I love hearing from you guys about what you think will happen with Laney. Hopefully it is something you won't see coming muhaha...Enjoy =) **

I followed in behind Abruzzi into the locker room. It smelled terrible. Of course, only one inmate would actually be changing in here and it would be Tbag. He removed his shirt and I had to glue my eyes to the ground. I found Tweener taking off his hat and sitting down on one of the benches. I hurried over to him and leaned against the lockers. Michael came in last and was staring at everyone making sure we were all here and accounted for. Except for Lincoln of course.

"So here's the game plan, we need to be ready to go by 7," said Michael.

Everyone's eyes immediately trained over to where Tweener was sitting. I tensed up defensively and started to move closer to him.

"Hey man watch what you say, we have company," spat C-note.

Even Tweener was starting to look a little nervous. I was standing literally inches away from him in case I needed to protect him from these guys. For some reason I didn't think Tbag was going to like this very much.

"He's coming with us," said Michael plainly.

All hell broke loose. The guys started shouting at Michael that there was going to be too many people, and that Tweener wasn't coming. It turned out that I was right about Tbag. He put his shirt back on and started storming over to where Tweener was sitting. I stepped right in his path so I was blocking him. Actually, Tweener probably had a nice view of my butt, but I didn't care as long as he was safe from Tbag. Tbag came right up to me and I had to put my hands on his chest to make him stop. He was staring daggers at me, but I glared right back. He was just going to have to suck it up because Tweener was in on the escape. Tbag slowly reached up and took a hold of my hands, pulling them off of his chest.

"Look, I owe him so Tweener is going," ordered Michael.

That seemed to calm everybody down. They all quieted down as Michael explained the rest of the plan. We would need to change the color of our uniforms, and C-note was going to get us some peroxide from the kitchen. I didn't know how he would manage that without the guards noticing, but I didn't bother asking. The whole time Michael was talking, Tweener and I kept our eyes on each other. The others started making their way past us one by one. I saw Tweener tense up as they walked by him. They weren't happy, but they weren't going to hurt him while Michael was around. I only lifted my eyes when Tbag walked by. He was staring at Tweener briefly, but then his eyes met mine. He gave me a slight smirk then walked on by. I watched then turned my attention back to Tweener. I gave him a grin.

"That went well," I teased.

Tweener gave me an evil grin and wrapped his arms around my waist while he was still sitting on the bench. With one short tug he pulled me into him and I was leaning against his chest still standing. I leaned down and wrapped my arms around his neck. We stood there for a few moments with our noses touching.

"I'm hoping this ends well," he said leaning forward for a kiss.

I happily obliged. We kissed for a bit then were just smiling against each other's lips. We both realized that we needed to get outside or the guys and the guards would wonder what we were doing in here. I started to pull away, but Tweener pulled me down again, but this time I was sitting on his lap. He dipped me backwards and kissed me again. That kiss was a lot more passionate and it made my head spin. When he moved down to my neck, I closed my eyes and bit my lip in pleasure.

"Just think we can do this all the time when we get out of here," he whispered.

I opened my eyes and looked back up at Tweener. He wanted to go on the escape. He didn't care about busting them to get time reduced on his bid. We wanted to be out now. This was my unsettling thought as I stood up and we walked out of the locker room. The rest of the guys were standing in a line, and gave us both suspicious looks when we came out. We just kept our heads down and stepped in line.

A guard came out of the break room and was staring at each and every one of us. It was almost like he was looking for something. Michael was trying to figure out what was happening, and was assessing each one of us. His gaze stopped on Westmoreland. I looked over to where he was clutching his side. I could see the immense pain in his eyes and I could tell that something was wrong.

"Alright cons, I found some drops of blood on the floor in there, so what's going on?"

Silence. Nobody was saying anything, and I could see the worry in Westmoreland's eyes. Something was definitely up with him. I did the first thing I could think of and stepped out of line. The guys were looking at me with confused expressions. The guard just eyed me suspiciously.

"Well?"

I smirked a little to myself.

"Sorry boss, it's my 'time of the month' so I must have done it when I was changing in there. You know the products in here aren't the best."

I glanced over at the guys. Some looked flat out repulsed. I had to keep myself from laughing when I saw that Tweener's and Tbag's mouths had both dropped. I looked back to the guard with an innocent look. He looked rather embarrassed to be standing here next to me. He scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh…alright, just uh…make sure you are more careful," he stuttered.

I gave him my most reassuring smile. He turned to walk away and I rolled my eyes as I stepped back in line. Michael was grinning at me and I could tell that he was impressed with me. I just stuck my tongue out at him. The line started moving again and I watched Westmoreland walk. Every step was causing him pain and he gripped his side harder. I figured that I would have to ask him about it later. I stepped a little closer to Michael.

"So, I never asked, how did things go with Sara? About that key I mean?"

Michael turned his head to look at me and just shrugged his shoulders.

"I asked her to leave the door unlocked."

"You did what!" I practically shouted.

He told Sara to leave the door unlocked so that a group of us could escape tonight. Was he insane? I'm pretty sure that she was required by law to report that. I never took Michael to be one of the desperate types. And this was about as desperate as you could get.

"She knows that Lincoln is innocent, and hopefully she does the right thing."

"I sure hope so Michael."

I meant that last part because if Sara left that door unlocked then I would have no problem making sure she went down with the rest of the guys for the escape. Michael got separated from the rest of us because the warden wanted to see him. C-note also left the line to go to the kitchen. Probably to get that peroxide. I was just watching the nervous looks on the other's faces. We were down to only a few hours left before the escape. I was even starting to get a little nervous. That was probably just because I had no idea what I was going to do. I reached my cell to where Abruzzi was waiting for me. I moved to my bunk and he was just eyeing me suspiciously.

"I'm not talking to you," I spat like a child.

I heard Abruzzi chuckle but I just turned my head to the other side. I was still trying to be mad at him for volunteering to babysit for me. He didn't say anything, but just hopped onto the top bunk. I flopped backwards and rested my head on the pillow. I felt the two journals resting underneath me. I slipped my hand to pull out the journal I first came with. I opened the cover and flipped to the first page. I smiled to myself at reading just the word _Fibonacci. _That felt like so long ago. I continued to flip through the pages at all of my notes. They were really making me smile. I had to admit that I had more notes about Tbag and Michael than Abruzzi. It made me think of every memory I've made in Fox River. I turned the page and saw my first entry about Tweener. I giggled at the little hearts that I drew around his name.

"What are you laughing about Bella?" asked Abruzzi.

I quickly shut my journal and jammed it back into its hiding place.

"Nothing. So, did you get in contact with the person bringing us the plane?"

"Yes, he will be meeting us about an hour after we get over those walls."

I accidently scoffed. I covered my mouth with my hand and hoped that Abruzzi didn't hear me. Luckily, Abruzzi thought I was scoffing about something else.

"Don't be mad at Tbag and the others for what happened earlier today. They are just all nervous about tonight. You haven't given us any reason not to trust you," he said.

"Yeah," was all I responded.

I sat up in my bunk when I heard the intercom turn on over Gen Pop. One of the guards was about to make an announcement.

"Michael Scofield return to Gen Pop. Also an announcement that Avocado will be returning from the medical wing tonight."

"WHAT!" I shouted jumping off of my bunk.

I ran over to my cell bars and peeked through them. Avocado was coming back tonight. I watched as Michael made his way to his cell. Sucre was watching him anxiously. My eyes trained over to where Tweener was standing in his cell. He looked like he was going to be sick. He looked up at me and I could see the terror in his eyes. I knew now that he wasn't just wanting to be a part of the escape; he was counting on it for his survival. How was I going to take that away?

My nose started to wrinkle when I caught a whiff of something really awful. I brought my hand up to cover my nose and turned around to look at Abruzzi. He was busy pouring stuff all over both of our bunks.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He looked at me and smiled. I recognized the stuff as the fertilizer that we use for the yard work. He was just sprinkling it all over both of the bunks.

"The smell," he explained.

I wrinkled my nose again after his explanation. Did he have to use something that smelled so rotten? I turned around to see C-note staring right at me. I jumped back because he nearly gave me a heart attack. I immediately noticed that he was frazzled about something. He didn't say anything, but just handed me the bag of peroxide through the bars.

"Use that for your uniforms exactly 20 minutes before we are supposed to meet Michael at his cell," he instructed.

I nodded my head looking at the peroxide in my hands. C-note started to move away, but I got his attention.

"Did you have any problems getting this?"

He smirked and he probably wondered how I always knew when something was wrong.

"I had a little smack down with Trumpets, no big deal."

Oh yeah, no big deal at all. We have only had problems with Trumpets for the past few days. I had a feeling that Trumpets was going to cause us problems later. I just smiled a reassuring smile at C-note and he walked away. I turned around and handed the peroxide back to Abruzzi. I looked back to see how much time was left.

Dear God, the escape was in 30 minutes.


	95. Chapter 95

**A/N: See I told you guys that I would probably get another update up today. I know this chapter is soooo short, but I am trying to drag out the rest of the story so the rest of my chapters will probably be a little on the short side. Enjoy =)**

If the rest of the group wasn't nervous before, they were now. All of us watched as Michael was called out of his cell and was escorted out of Gen Pop. There was 30 minutes until the escape was on, and the guy with the plan was leaving. You could cut the tension with a knife. Abruzzi and I watched as two of the guards stood just outside our cell. They were talking about Bellick. We made eye contact with each other when they said that they were going to notify the warden about his disappearance. Everything was starting to come together. Suddenly, I felt my stomach drop and I sprinted over to the toilet where I dry heaved a few times.

I felt a little comfort when I felt a hand on my back. Abruzzi was rubbing my back while my face was still in the toilet.

"Nervous Bella?" he teased.

I gave him a nasty glare that probably looked a little pathetic.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine," he reassured.

I wondered if he would still be saying that after I busted them. Somehow I had I feeling that they wouldn't forgive me so easily. I looked up at Abruzzi with my sad eyes.

"No matter what happens John, I'm really glad I met you," I admitted.

Abruzzi didn't say anything. He just stood up and hopped up onto his bunk. It made me wonder if I said something wrong. I pushed myself away from the toilet and sat with my back against the wall. I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on my knees. I ran my fingers through my hair. Was I really prepared to ruin these people's lives?

I thought about Sucre. He was one of the kindest people I had met in here. He was just generally a good guy. The love of his life, Maricruz was waiting for him outside these walls carrying his baby. He wanted out of prison so he could be a father.

I thought about Abruzzi. The reason I was in here in the first place. He was the first person I met in Fox River. We went through our ups and downs, but I had grown to care for him over my stay. He wanted out of prison so he could find Fibonacci.

I thought about Tbag. Oh boy. I hated him when I first met him, I thought he was a monster. Even though, he has done some pretty horrible things to me, I had to admit that I did feel something for him. He wanted out of prison so he could find his ex-girlfriend that turned him in.

I thought about C-note. He tried to put off this tough exterior that didn't feel, but I could see the kindness behind him. He had served our country and got screwed over for speaking his mind. He wanted out of prison to see his wife and daughter that he hadn't seen for three years.

I smiled when I thought about Tweener. I felt this instant connection when he first got here, but I had truly grown to love him. He was everything I needed in my life. He not only wanted, but needed out of prison because Avocado was going to kill him.

I thought about Westmoreland. He was also one of the kindest people that I have ever met. I smiled when I remember that his best friend was a cat when I first was here. He had been in this prison for such a long time. He wanted out of prison to see his daughter that was dying.

Finally, I thought about Michael and Lincoln. The two brothers without a doubt the strongest bond I had ever seen. Lincoln could be the most well-known criminal for killing the Vice President's brother. Michael was convinced that he was being set up and vowed to set him free before he was put to death. Part of me wanted to believe that he was innocent too.

I pulled my head up to look at the ceiling. After thinking about everything one last time, I had finally made a decision. I just hoped that I could go through with it.

There was 15 minutes left.


	96. Chapter 96

**A/N: Here we go! Enjoy =)**

Abruzzi was busy soaking our uniforms in the toilet. The blue was coming right out and I was starting to see the white. Time was getting closer and closer and Michael still wasn't back yet. There was no way this was going to work without him. Finally, we heard the buzzing sound of the doors opening and Michael reentered Gen Pop. If the other inmates were smart they could have probably figured that something was up because all of us hurried to our cell doors to watch Michael. It was a little pathetic. Everyone went back to doing their last minute things except for Tbag. He caught my sight and I gave him a smile. I could tell that he was definitely nervous. He only bit his lip at me. I realized that he was busy looking at someone else. Abruzzi was standing next to me and they were giving each other the evil eye. I hoped that they would be able to get through the next hour without killing each other. I was going to tell Abruzzi to behave, but something buzzed and our cell door opened.

My heart rate was starting to speed up. This was it. We wouldn't be returning to our cell again. Abruzzi handed me my white uniform and I followed him out of the cell. Not to draw attention, we moved slowly to Michael's cell. I couldn't help but watch the other inmates as they left their cells. I wondered what they would think when they found out that their fellow inmates had tried to escape. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ran right into the back of Abruzzi.

"Watch it," he growled.

"Sorry."

Abruzzi secretly handed his uniform to Sucre and I did the same. I watched as he hid them underneath his bunk. I looked to Michael who gave me a smile.

"Ready Laney?"

I smiled slightly and nodded my head. I was ready for what I had to do, but that didn't mean that I wanted to do it. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed more movement heading towards Michael. I looked to see Manche' and Tbag. Poor Manche' looked nervous and Tbag said something that probably didn't make him feel any better. They both handed their uniforms over. Tbag stopped so he was standing right in front of me.

"Hi," I said.

He didn't say anything, but approached me and wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me in close so my head was resting on his shoulder. I looked over at Abruzzi and gave him a confused look as to what was happening. He pulled back and grazed his fingers across my cheek. I just stood there smiling and waiting for that awkward moment to pass. Westmoreland was next to show up and he was moving really slowly. I didn't want to ask him in front of everyone what was wrong, but I told myself I would find out later. C-note showed up, but his mind was completely elsewhere.

"C-note?" I asked quietly.

He didn't say anything, but just was staring straight ahead. I looked over to where Trumpets was giving the both of us death glares. This wasn't good. It was going to be really difficult to get C-note out of here if Trumpets wasn't taking his eyes off of us. Finally Tweener appeared at Michael's cell. My face instantly lit up when I saw him. He nervously handed over his uniform and Sucre looked angry with him.

"There are blue spots in the uniform," he spat.

I started to walk over to where Tweener was standing.

"There was one thing you had to do kid," he spat again.

"Hey. Everything is going to be fine," I defended.

Sucre didn't say anything, but I could tell he wasn't happy with Tweener. Well, that was just too bad because he was coming with us. I took Tweener's hand and led him to the railing where we stood together. I smiled at him and he smiled back, but I could tell he was nervous too. He was nervous about the escape, but he was also nervous that they would find out that he tried to rat him out. I leaned forward and pressed a kiss on his cheek. I wanted him to know that no matter what happened I would always be here for him. Michael said that he needed us to block the cell so he could unscrew the toilet. We sort of worked like a well-oiled machine. Some of us went to block the cell while others crowded around the cell towards the railing. I was standing against the railing with Tweener standing behind me. He had his arms wrapped around my waist.

My stomach dropped when I saw movement on the floor. Trumpets and his gang started making their way towards the stairs. Oh shit! I turned to C-note with wide eyes and he saw Trumpets coming. He immediately started moving into the cell to hide. The rest of us needed to do something to protect C-note. We didn't have time for a full out brawl. Trumpets and his crew had reached the top of the stairs and were heading our way. I took a deep breath and stepped away from Tweener.

"Ok, I have an idea, just make sure they don't kill me," I told Tbag.

Everyone watched with confusion as I made my way over to meet Trumpets. They were probably nervous as to what I was going to do. I was nervous that Trumpets was going to kill me. As soon as Trumpets and his gang got close enough, I lifted my leg up onto the railing. I stretched out my opposite arm out down to the ground so it looked like I was stretching my body. I could see Trumpets stopping in front of me. And boy did he look pissed off.

"What are you doing?" he growled.

My head was titled towards the ground, but I turned it so I was looking at him. I gave him a smile.

"Stretching," I said plainly.

I heard him huff in an annoyed way.

"Where's C-note?"

I brought my fingers up and started tapping my chin like I was trying to think.

"Never heard of him. But if I run into him, I will be sure to tell him that you were looking for him," I mocked.

Trumpets smirked then grabbed a hold of my leg. He ripped it from the railing and smashed my body up against the wall. I shrieked when he took his blade and held it up against my throat. It didn't take the others long to spring into action. Trumpets leaned in close to me.

"I don't like you bitch. I think it is real cute that you are trying to protect your friend, but you need to stay out of my way."

Abruzzi pulled Trumpets away, and Tbag pulled me into him. They were all looking at me like I was absolutely insane. I just shrugged my shoulders. Trumpets moved away from Abruzzi and stalked towards Michael's cell. I gave him a nasty glare as he walked by. I felt somebody tug on my hand and Tweener was pulling me away from Tbag. I stepped with Tweener but moved so I could stand in the cell. Trumpets practically searched the entire cell, but C-note was nowhere to be seen. He looked like he couldn't believe it, and started to exit the cell. I raised my eyebrow and stepped to the side to let him by. He glared down at me as he walked by, and Abruzzi and Tbag made sure he was really gone.

"Laney are you insane?" hissed Tweener.

I shook my head no and started to laugh. Michael stood up and moved over to open the toilet. C-note had already gone through. He pulled the toilet back and we were all staring into the hole. It was time.

I was leaning against the bunk watching everybody getting ready to crawl through the hole. Westmoreland was first. Michael handed him his uniform and he clutched his shirt a little closer to his side. He looked at me and I gave him an understanding smile.

"You look like my daughter when you smile like that," he admitted.

I smiled again, and he lowered himself to crawl through the hole. Once he was through, Tweener came through the cell. He was handed his splotchy uniform and he paused to look at me. I gave him a smile and he approached me and kissed me one final time. The kiss was soft and sweet, and I didn't want it to stop, but the clearing of throats made us pull apart. Tweener forced himself through the hole. Manche' came in with his uniform in his hand and he was looking at the hole a little nervously. I understood, he was a bigger man and that was a pretty little hole. I put my arm on his shoulder.

"You'll be fine," I reassured.

He nodded his head and made his way towards the hole. Tbag came through next and he was giving a dirty look at Manche'. Manche' got a little stuck at first, and apparently Tbag has little patience. He took his shoe and shoved Manche' the rest of the way. I gave him an annoyed look and he just grinned at me. I could tell he thought about saying something, but Abruzzi coming into the cell halted his thought.

"After you," he said to Abruzzi.

I rolled my eyes at these two. They did not trust each other one bit. Abruzzi took his uniform and made his way through the hole. Tbag quickly went right after him. After he went through, it was just Michael, Sucre, and I left standing in the cell. We were all just staring at each other for a moment. I put both of my hands on their arms and grinned at them.

"Go ahead Laney," they said.

I took my uniform and stared at the hole. This was it; there was no turning back now. I lowered myself and crawled through the small hole. Tbag was waiting at the other end and he pulled me through the rest of the way and helped me onto my feet. We waited for Sucre and Michael to come through before we continued to join the others.


	97. Chapter 97

The others were waiting for us by a much bigger hole. The must have dug that a long time ago. Michael announced that we needed to hurry because we were 10 minutes behind. Everyone started to get a little nervous. They started moving through the hole one by one and I joined hands with Tweener. We waited our turn to go last and we went through the hole together.

We were officially underground. Michael was moving quickly through the pipes, and it was getting hard to keep up. It was hard to see the person in front of you and I gripped Tweener's hand a little tighter. If we were going the right way then we would hit right under the break room. Hopefully, Bellick would still be there alive. We were picking up pace when suddenly I heard a terrifying scream. It echoed through the entire pipes. Everyone looked around to each other with one thought on our minds. Bellick had removed the tape. I don't think that I had ever seen us all move so fast for my entire stay here. We heard another scream before Tbag practically tackled Bellick to the ground.

Bellick tried screaming again, but Tbag pulled out a blade and held it to his throat. We caught up to them and I felt my heart start to speed up. Most of these guys hated Bellick, so they probably wouldn't have a problem killing him.

"Scream and I will cut out your windpipe," threatened Tbag.

My head snapped up when I heard footsteps from above us. There were guards using the break room. My breath caught as we all listened to them walking around. Bellick was struggling against Tbag, with no luck. Tbag started to cut Bellick a little for struggling.

"Tbag don't," I whispered.

He looked up to me for a moment. I shook my head telling him not to do anything. He only smirked then threw Bellick to the ground. We heard the door to the break room open and the guards were gone.

"I need his jacket and his hat," said Michael.

I had no clue why Michael needed Bellick's outfit, but when he said something the others followed. C-note came around to the other side and together with Tbag they pulled on his shirt dragging him along. I winced with each pull because that probably had to hurt. I waited for Tweener to take my hand before we followed behind them. Tbag pulled Bellick through and tossed him on the ground again. They fought with him to get the hat and the jacket off. When they pulled the jacket off, I noticed the gun that was resting under Bellick's belt. Michael put on the hat and the jacket and he definitely looked like a guard. Bellick smirked at all of us.

"He's leading you all into the ground boys," he chanted.

Tbag knelt down and grabbed the back of Bellick's head, forcing him to look up. There was one more pipe that we all had to climb through before the psych ward. C-note walked up to Bellick first.

"You think you are still in charge? Peace out bitch."

I had to keep myself from laughing as C-note climbed through the pipe. Bellick looked like he could kill somebody. Sucre and Manche' came through next and muttered something in Spanish to Bellick. I didn't understand it. Tweener came up to stand right next to me and I took his hand. If looks could kill, then Tweener would be six feet under right now. I tried to will Bellick with my eyes not to say anything.

"You two," he growled at us, "these two are the ones who," he started to say.

My breath caught as Bellick was about to rat us out, but luckily Tweener hurried over and punched him square in the face. He told him to shut up and put the tape back in his mouth. I gave Tweener a worried look, but he just started to move through the pipe. I felt Abruzzi brush past me as he bent down towards Bellick.

"Ciao Bella."

I smiled to myself. That was the first thing Abruzzi had said to me when I came to Fox River. He had called me Bella ever since (shit he carved it on my back). Abruzzi smirked at me before moving over to the pipe. I moved after him and saw Tbag give Bellick one last grin. It was a victory grin. I rolled my eyes as I climbed through the pipe. Unfortunately, we moved into a smaller pipe. I crawled until I was next to Tweener again. He looked downright petrified, and I slipped my arm around his trying to reassure him.

Michael moved past all of us to the front of the line. I could see just a little light ahead. We were almost to the psych ward.

"Alright everyone, change into your white uniforms," he ordered.

Everyone started to get out their clothes and undress, but Michael had disappeared somewhere. I suddenly became very self-conscious. Not so much in front of Tweener, but I didn't the other guys (especially Tbag) watching me change. I took my uniform and stood up.

"I will be right back," I told Tweener.

"Aww, is Laneykins going to be shy?" teased Tbag.

I rolled my eyes and stepped away from the rest of them. However, I didn't stop walking to change clothes, instead I kept walking until I crawled back through the pipe where Bellick was sitting. He looked at me with a surprised look. I put my finger up to my lips telling him to be quiet. He thought I was untie him, but I couldn't do that. I reached down and wrapped my hand around his gun. He looked at me wide eyed for a moment, then smiled. I took the gun from him and hid it away. I gave him one last look before disappearing through the pipes.

I made sure and changed again before returning to Tweener. The gun was safely hidden so that they couldn't see it. I sat down across from Tweener right next to Westmoreland. He was holding his side again and I started to see the blood seeping through his shirt. I looked at him with worried eyes.

"Are you alright?" I whispered.

He looked at me surprised, then angry, then slowly nodded his head.

"It happened when I was fighting Bellick. But I'm fine and I am going to get out of here."

I bit my lip feeling guilty. If Tweener and I had never told Bellick about the hole then Westmoreland never would have fought with him. But I couldn't dwell on the past now. The group started to move towards the light. Michael still wasn't back yet. The light was coming up above a ladder. All of us looked up to see the drain pipe. All we had to do was get through the drain pipe and get through the psych ward.

Suddenly, loud alarms started buzzing overhead. They were coming from the yard. Everyone looked to each other with nothing short of terror in their eyes. We were busted.


	98. Chapter 98

**A/N: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope everyone enjoys their day doing whatever plans you have. This time of year is my favorite, so it makes sense that this is my favorite part of the story. I have to apologize for the major cliffhanger I am leaving you with...please forgive me! I love hearing your feedback so review, review, review! Enjoy =) **

Where the hell was Michael? The alarms were going off and he was nowhere to be seen. We were all looking at each other with a mix of confusion, panic, and terror in our eyes. The guys were going to get 10 years added to their sentence for this.

"We're screwed!" shouted Tbag, "let's get out of here."

We all started to run back the other way, but Michael suddenly appeared. He was blocking our way and he was pressing us forward. He was pressing us to where the siren was coming from. Everyone was a little hesitant at first. Michael only sighed and rolled his eyes at our lack of faith.

"I set off the fire alarm in the psych ward," he explained.

Everyone turned their heads up to the drain pipe. We started to see movement and soon enough there were white uniforms everywhere. One by one, we each started to climb the ladder. Michael went first of course, to make sure the coast was clear. Somehow I got stuck between Tbag and Tweener (**little bit of foreshadowing for later on!). **We were all standing on the ladder waiting for the signal.

Michael turned to us and smiled. He lifted his fingers through the holes and lifted up on the drain pipe.

"Let's go!" he said.

He crawled out of the hole and helped each one of us get out. I soon as I took one step outside, the freezing air hit me. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared to shiver. I'm surprised that I didn't wake up the whole prison with my teeth chattering. Tweener wrapped his arm around my waist to warm me up and we walked together. We followed all of the truly crazy inmates back into the psych ward. I didn't want to get too close to any of them so I snuggled next to Tweener. There was one attendant checking each inmate back through the ward. Michael stood in front of us shouting like a guard. It was a little annoying. Tweener removed his arm and put his sleeve in his mouth. Apparently, that was his way of acting crazy.

The attendant quickly grabbed ahold of Tweener's arm abruptly stopping the line. Everyone tried to mask their apprehension. He was looking at the blue spots on Tweener's uniform.

"These aren't the standard issue," he complained.

Michael told everyone to stop and pulled the attendant off to the side. I turned my head so I could listen in on their conversation.

"The girl's not supposed to be in here," he whispered.

Michael eyes flickered to mine briefly, and I sucked in my cheeks. Of course I would be easily noticeable as the misfit. I wondered if there was some excuse Michael could come up with. Michael leaned over and said something to the attendant. He responded with a smirk and handed Michael some sort of needle. I started to back up just a little. I didn't know what Michael had planned with that needle, but it wasn't getting anywhere near me. The attendant looked to me with an evil grin, but before I could even blink Michael had stabbed the needle into the attendant's neck. My eyes went wide and I gasped as the attendant fell to the floor.

Michael moved ahead of us and continued us on. I was still staring at the fallen attendant, but someone grabbed ahold of my arm. I officially hated the psych ward. It was dark, dank, and downright creepy. It looked like the sort of place Tbag would want to hang out. I walked at a quicker pace just to get out of here. Once again, we came to another ladder. Only this time we were going back down. One by one we took our turns, but Michael had pulled Tweener off to the side. I stood watching them for a moment, but C-note rushed me down the ladder. I paced back and forth until Michael started climbing down the ladder. What did he want to talk to Tweener about? Did it have something to do with us snitching? Michael didn't even wait for Tweener before moving on. I put my hands on my hips and refused to move until Tweener was by my side. He came down looking worried, and when I asked him what was wrong he didn't answer. He just took ahold of my hand and we took off running.

Oh. My. God. Another ladder. We were already behind, so most of the others were already up the ladder. When Tweener took his turn, I swore that I saw somebody behind me. I snapped my head in the other direction looking for something. I swore that I almost saw.. never mind it was just my head messing with me. Tweener called out my name and I climbed up the ladder.

We were back in the prison. I felt like we just went in a huge circle. I approached where the others were standing quietly. I could have heard a pin drop. Michael was peeking around the corner looking for something. I heard the buzz of a cell door and I jumped in my place. I was trying to slow my breathing, but I was finding it rather impossible. I knew I was going to have to do something soon, and just the thought was enough to make me sick. The buzz came again, and Michael turned back to us smiling. The coast was clear. Michael went first and then we all scurried down the hallway. I looked at my surroundings and we were definitely in the medical wing. Sara's office was at the end of the hall.

Michael took a detour, however. I didn't know what he was doing, and I wanted to tell him that we didn't have time for this, but he disappeared into one of the rooms. The rest of us followed and we were all staring at Lincoln. Lincoln! Oh my God, I forgot about Lincoln. I don't know how Michael got him here, but here he was. The guard watching Lincoln looked like he could shit his pants. He started to back away slowly from all of us.

"Look guys I am no hero. I won't say anything I promise," he pleaded.

We all heard Tbag scoff to himself.

"It's the radio I don't trust," he said.

We all saw it coming, but Tbag stepped forward and punched the guard so hard that he fell to the floor unconscious. Everyone moved quickly to get the cuffs off of Lincoln. They made sure the guard couldn't going anywhere before moving forward.

Now that they had Lincoln, there was only one more stop to make. Sara's office. Of course, none of this was going to happen if she remembered to lock up after she left. Everyone slowed down as Michael approached the door. My breath hitched as he wrapped his hand around the door knob. Please God, just let the door be locked. Michael slowly twisted the knob, and we all heard a click before the door opened.

God, dammit, that bitch left the door open for a bunch of criminals to escape!

Everyone except for me was thrilled about this. Michael opened the door completely and everybody started to move inside. I couldn't let them go any further. I reached behind my back and pulled out the gun that I took from Bellick. I raised it so it was pointing at Michael right between the eyes.

"Stop."


	99. Chapter 99

"Don't move," I said clutching the gun a little tighter.

Everyone turned to look at me with wide eyes. They were probably wondering what the hell I was doing. At least everyone seemed surprised except for Abruzzi and Tbag. They just looked downright pissed off. Tweener was looking at me with fearful eyes. He probably couldn't believe that I was making a move now. I felt a little guilty that I hadn't discussed this with him, but until minutes before the escape I hadn't decided on this.

"Laney what are you doing?" asked a very confused Michael.

They started to move back towards the open door again, but I told them to stop again and cocked the gun causing them to freeze in their spots. I was being serious, and they needed to realize it. Abruzzi stepped forward and I aimed carefully. He was staring at me with nothing short of hatred in his eyes.

"That's Agent Laney Collins, and I said stop!"

I knew what they were thinking by the looks on their faces. Agent Laney Collins? They didn't know whether this was some kind of sick joke, or I was telling the truth. Everyone truly looked surprised except for Abruzzi. He hadn't stopped glaring at me since I pointed the gun at them. There was something about the way he was looking at me. He was definitely angry, that much I could tell, but it was almost as if he knew what was going on.

"What is going on Laneykins?" asked Tbag darkly.

"I work undercover operations for the FBI. Then I found out about the escape. At first, I just wanted to bust you guys and let you serve 10 more years, but then something changed. I realized that you aren't bad people, just people who have had bad things happen to them."

They were seriously waiting for the punch line that would never come. Michael's hands went up over his head. Tbag and Abruzzi were just staring at me with hatred. I felt sick to my stomach when I looked at poor Tweener's face. Just when you thought that you knew someone, they pulled a stunt like this. That is what I figured was going through his head. He pronounced his love to me and risked so much for me, and I was keeping this secret.

"Laney, you…" he started but choked on his words.

I lowered the gun just a little.

"Tweener, I'm sorry."

I had the gun dropped just a little too long and Tbag started to stalk towards me. I snapped out of it and pointed the gun right at his head clenching my hands.

"Tbag, I said don't move!"

The others winced at how loud I was talking. If I woke any of the guards up then the escape was over. That wasn't my fault however, it was all Tbag's. Tbag stopped moving, but crouched down as if he were getting ready to pounce at me. Bring it on. Michael tried to settle us both down by holding out his hands. I took my eyes off of Tbag to look at him.

"Everyone just calm down," he whispered, "Laney why are you doing this?"

"She is doing this because of me," Abruzzi practically growled.

"You knew?" I said confused.

He shook his head like it was obvious that he knew. Of course, when he found out about my birthday he must have discovered my secret. The question is why didn't he say anything, or worse do anything about it? He could have easily taken me out of the picture, and I wouldn't have suspected anything. Everyone was staring at me waiting for an explanation, and I snapped out of my thoughts. I needed to get out of my head and focus on my plan.

"I was sent here undercover on an assignment to find some information on Abruzzi."

I let my words sink in. My small speech was definitely not what they were expecting. Whether it was the part about working for the FBI, wanting to bust their escape, or growing to care for them I wasn't sure.

"So what, now you're going to bust us?" C-note spat.

"If I was going to bust you then I wouldn't have let it get this far; no, I'm letting you go," they all let out a breath of relief. "Except you two." I said pointing my gun at T-bag and Abruzzi.

Now they were looking at me like I was insane. Actually Tbag was looking at me like he could kill me. I held the gun a little tighter. I had decided this when I was still sitting in my cell. If Lincoln really was innocent, then he needed a chance to go out and prove it. He wasn't going to be able to do anything if he was dead. The others weren't killers and they had family waiting for them. Tbag and Abruzzi were the exceptions.

"Excuse me?" said Tbag.

I rolled my eyes at him. Did he really think that he deserved to be out of prison?

"You heard me. I said that you and Abruzzi are not escaping. I am not going to let two killers walk the streets," I spat.

"Do you really think you can take on all of us?" seethed Tbag.

I watched him warily. He looked like a lion ready to pounce on his prey. I turned the gun so it was now pointing at him.

"I don't have to. All I have to do is pull the trigger one time, and every guard in this place will be here faster than you can blink."

Tbag definitely wasn't expecting that answer. He was hoping that I would be too frightened of him to do anything. Well sorry, but this was the real Laney, not inmate Laney. Although, in the back of my mind it was getting harder to differentiate between the two.

"I don't think you have it in you to take out one of us," Tbag challenged.

Once again, Tbag started stalking towards me. I just smirked at him and cocked the gun, removing the safety. He stopped dead in his tracks staring at me wide eyed.

"Do you want to risk it T? I have been shooting guns since I was 8 years old."

"But how are you going to explain to the Feds that the rest of us escaped?" asked Sucre.

I shook my head rather annoyed. Now was not the freakin' time for 20 freakin' questions. I pointed the gun a little more precisely at Tbag.

"Look we don't have time for this!" I practically shouted, "I am giving you the chance to escape, but I am not helping you if you get caught. So you need to decide right now!"

I was staring at each and every one of them, but they weren't looking at me. They were staring wide eyed at something behind me. Before I was able to register that and turn around, something had wrapped itself around my arms. It was a cord of some sort, and it pulled me arms into my chest causing me to drop the gun. As it hit the floor, I started to scream out but a hand quickly enclosed itself around my throat. The hand squeezed a little harder and I was left staring in shock at the guys. But where did that cord come from?

"I knew you were escaping, I knew it," said the oh too familiar voice of Haywire.

You have got to be kidding me? Hay-f***ing-Wire was behind this. I glanced down to what was around my arms and it was the cord to the radio. Haywire was holding the speaker end.

"Either I get to escape with you guys or the whole prison is going to hear what Laney's scream sounds like," he threatened, "and that wouldn't be good for your escape."

I looked to the rest of the guys curiously. They really didn't have a choice if they wanted to get out of here. My biggest fear was what was going to happen to me. The gun was still lying on the ground, and I wondered if Haywire released me if I could get my hands on that gun before the others did. Haywire squeezed me a little harder causing me to squeal. They panicked afraid that I was going to start screaming.

"Fine, he's in," said Lincoln moving towards the door.

Haywire wasted no time and threw me to the floor. I landed on my stomach and looked up where the gun was a few inches away. I quickly jumped into action reaching out for the gun, but somebody already beat me to it. He picked up the gun and pulled me up so I was resting on my knees. I was staring up into the terrifying face of Tbag pointing the gun right at me.

I was good as dead.


	100. Chapter 100

**A/N: Woo Chapter 100! That is so crazy to even think about, but I owe it all to the readers who pushed me to finish up this story. (BTW, we are so close, just a few chapters to go) This chapter is a long one so enjoy =)**

It felt as though hours had passed, and I was just sitting on my knees staring at Tbag. He was pointing the gun at me, but fiddling with it in his hands; all while biting his tongue of course. The others had started to move into the doctor's office getting ready for the final escape. I needed to think of something fast before they all escaped. Without even thinking, I opened my mouth to scream bloody murder. Tbag must have seen it coming because he flew towards me and covered my mouth pressing the gun to my forehead. I immediately shut up, and glared at Tbag. His chest was moving up and down quickly and I could see the fury in his eyes. He reached back and grabbed a hold of my hair pulling me to my feet. I struggled as he drug me into the room. The others watched as he threw me to the floor once more.

"What are we supposed to do about her?" he spat.

They all turned to look at me. Some of them looked angry. Some of them looked disappointed. Tweener just looked worried. I started to speak up, but Tbag took the butt of the gun and bashed me over the head with it.

"Stupid bitch," he seethed.

I bit my lip trying to force back the tears, and I reached my hand up to my forehead. I felt something warm and thick oozing between my fingers. I looked to the floor as the blood started splattering below me.

I avoided eye contact with everyone and just stared at the window. I smiled to myself and Michael followed my gaze to where I was staring at the bars on the windows. They would have to find a way (a rather quiet way at that) to get those bars off before they could escape.

"Let's get those bars off," he ordered.

Tbag held onto the back of my hair as the others sprang into action. I tried to fight with him, but it was no use. He was letting go anytime soon. Westmoreland, C-note, Tweener, and Manche' all started grabbing blankets, sheets, and other soft things. They were throwing them onto the floor. Michael and Lincoln disappeared to the elevator. Tweener looked back to me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen. It made tears well up in my eyes. I didn't know what I would ever say to him to make up for lying to him.

Sucre came running back into the room with a hose in his hand. He ran it over and quickly tied it around the bars. I raised my eyebrows in confusion, wondering what they were trying to do. The rest of the guys left the room and went over to the elevator. It was just Tbag and I left alone. I craned my neck to see what was going on. The hose that was tied to the bars went all the way inside the elevator. Michael pushed the button to close the elevator, but it wouldn't budge. They were starting to panic a little, but then Tweener stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed.

"No," I protested trying to get free of Tbag.

I brought my hand up to Tbag's trying to pull him off of me, but that only frustrated him. He released my hair but kept a firm grip on my hand. I was staring up at him with angry eyes. His grip was starting to hurt and I opened my mouth, but couldn't say anything.

Our attention was turned when the hose started pulling on the bars. I could hear the walls starting to crack. The guys came hurrying back into the room watching the hose. After one final crack, not only the bars, but the whole damn window came crashing out of the walls, landing on one of the mattresses. I could feel the chilly air coming from the window. I shivered all the way from my toes to my hand that was in Tbag's grasp.

"Alright, I need everyone's white uniforms quickly," Michael ordered.

I looked around as the guys started stripping down there uniforms. I took the opportunity to rip my hand from Tbag's grip. They handed their clothes over to Michael who held them all on his arm. Finally, Tweener came sprinting through the door. He looked like he was afraid they were going to leave without him.

"Great job kiddo," Abruzzi commended Tweener.

Tweener smiled proudly and I could feel the corners of my mouth twitching upwards. He glanced over to me briefly before starting to take off his uniform. I was watching him undress and Tbag came up behind me and put his arms roughly on my shoulders. He was trying to undress me. I immediately flinched away from him.

"What the hell are you doing?" I spat.

"We need that uniform sweetheart," he growled, "so either you hand it over or I'm taking it off of your back."

I looked around the room to the others, who were all just watching me. I could just tell by all of their stares that everything had changed. They no longer looked to me with warmth or kindness. They didn't trust me and I didn't even know if they even still cared. I didn't blame them, but it was still a horrible feeling. I looked back to Tbag before slipping out of the white uniform. When I got it past my feet I tossed it over to Michael.

As soon as I realized the uniform, Tbag charged me and tackled me to the floor. I struggled and kicked against him, but he wouldn't budge. I tried to open my mouth to speak, but he quickly muffled my scream. He was fidgeting with something that I could see and he fitted it onto his wrist. He roughly grabbed my wrist and started wrapping something cold around it. I whimpered when it pinched my skin and finally the others came over to pull Tbag off of me. Much to my surprise, when they pulled Tbag up my wrist pulled up with him. I looked down to see that he had handcuffed our wrists together. I started to pull against him and tried to get my wrist free, but it was no use. I needed that key.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I spat. "Are you that stupid that you would handcuff yourself to the federal agent?"

Tbag yanked his wrist backwards and I was pulled forward. Tbag caught me as I fell into him. By the look in his eyes, he was being completely serious.

"Well, it looks like you are coming with us," he seethed.

"What!" said everyone simultaneously.

I tried again to pull away from him, but it was no use. Until I found that key, I was stuck with Tbag.

"She knows everything about our escape. And that includes what is on the outside. We told her about our families, and where we would go. We can't trust that she won't say anything so she is coming."

I raised my eyebrows. Even I had to admit that Tbag did have a major point. I did know where most of them were headed after they escaped, and my connections would be able to find them easily. The others seemed to consider this and just shrugged their shoulders. I could tell that they didn't want me along, but they didn't trust me enough to remain here.

Lincoln had had enough waiting around and stepped up onto the window. The others started to form a line behind Abruzzi. I was a little surprised that they were being so organized about this. I figured they would all be trying to push and shove their way out that window. Lincoln was already out the window, and had wrapped his legs around the thick wire outside. Michael started piling the uniforms and the sheets on top of his body. I didn't know how he was going to be able to climb across with all that extra weight, but Lincoln was a strong guy.

He actually made his way across the wire pretty quickly. I exhaled a little too loudly when his feet touched the wall. He had to move carefully so he would get stuck by the coils of barb wire circling the wall. That's what the uniforms and sheets were for. He laid them down on top of the barb wire so that it made a little path from the wall to the ground. Once he was ready, he signaled for the others to start coming.

Abruzzi climbed through next and quickly got himself wrapped around the wire. He moved across quickly, and Sucre climbed through the window. The line started moving and Tbag pulled me along. I bit my lip when I thought of something.

"Would now be a bad time to mention that I don't like heights?" I whispered.

Tbag turned to look at me briefly. He was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth. I was absolutely telling the truth. I never liked flying when I was younger, and being that high up with nothing to catch my fall kind of crept me out. Tbag leaned in towards me.

"If you're thinking about making us fall when we go across that wire, I would seriously think twice," he threatened.

I wasn't even thinking that, but now he put the idea in my head. I just said that I was afraid of heights, so why would I just let myself fall?

"If we fall, I am going to kill you quicker than you can call out for help. Then I will still escape and find your friends and family and kill them too."

I swallowed a dry lump forming in my throat. Immediately, my thoughts went straight to my father and Melanie. I couldn't let them be hurt for my stupid mistakes. I just looked to Tbag and slowly nodded my head. I had no idea how he intended to get us both across that wire, but for the present moment I would have to cooperate. When Sucre was about halfway across the wire, I heard Westmoreland cry out in pain and collapse to the ground. I gasped and Michael quickly rushed to his aid. C-note also went over there to help Michael out. They lifted his shirt to expose a deep puncture wound. It was just as deep as the wound that Tbag had inflicted on my. The only difference was that mine was treated. I looked to Westmoreland with tears filling my eyes. His breathing was shallow and his face was ghostly white. He was definitely not ok. This was all my fault. If I hadn't said anything to Bellick, then none of this would have happened.

"Come on Charles, just a few more steps," encouraged Michael.

Westmorland only shook his head.

"I was only going to see my daughter, but I want you to do that Michael," he said.

A single tear ran down my cheek as Michael dropped his head. Westmoreland was probably the best one of us, and now he wasn't going to be free. Where was the justice in that? Westmoreland made another noise.

"The money that I took is buried," he began, "in a silo in Tooele, Utah. But the papers lied because I didn't bury 1 million. I buried 5 million dollars."

I think my mouth dropped to the floor. Did he just say that he buried 5 million dollars? I looked around the room to Michael, C-note, Tbag, Manche' and Tweener. Haywire had already went across the wire. Most of the guys had shock on their faces, but Tbag had this greedy look because he was twisting his tongue out of his mouth. Even though 5 million was a shit ton of money, I had a feeling that this group would have a hard time sharing.

Tweener started making his way across the wire. I looked on nervously as he made his way across. I breathed a sigh of relief once he was safe. C-note went next as Manche' announced that he should go last. It was a respectable thing to do, and I admired him for that. Michael helped Westmoreland get comfortable as he stood up. Westmoreland's eyes drifted over to mine.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

He gave me a brief smile.

"Follow your heart Laney," was all he said.

I didn't have time to contemplate what that meant before Tbag was pulling me towards the window. I started getting panicking as I could see the drop below. There was no way that this was going to work. Especially with the two of us handcuffed together.

"Laneykins you are going to have to use your leg and work together with our handcuffed hands. I want to wrap your free hand around my body."

I didn't respond, but he came through loud and clear. I was staring wide eyed across the wire at Lincoln. It looked like such a long way to go. Tbag pulled himself onto the ledge of the window and I was standing next to him. We looked at each for a moment and Tbag started to move towards the wire. I counted to three in my head and as he pulled himself on top of the wire, I jumped and swung around to the bottom. I quickly wrapped my legs around the wire and swung my free hand across Tbag's back. Our faces were in an extremely close proximity, and I was trying to avoid looking at him. Together we started moving across the wire.

It was taking us a little longer than the others to get across. We were both moving our feet, but we had to move our handcuffed hands together in a rhythm to make any progress. I was trying to avoid looking at Tbag, but I also didn't want to be staring at the ground. I slipped a few times, and every time I did, I would grip harder onto Tbag's back. He was probably enjoying seeing my struggle and panic. After what felt like an eternity, we finally reached Lincoln. I had to swing my body around so we were both on the top part of the wire as Lincoln pulled me over.

He didn't do it gently either. We were both standing on top of the wall looking down at the rest of the guys below. I saw the drop and I started feeling lightheaded. I put my hand up to rest on my forehead. Now was not the time to pass up. Tbag moved us to where a pipe was running down the wall. Much like with the wire, we each had to straddle a side of the pipe and scoot down. I was on the outside, and we were slowly working our way down. It was a little easier this time than it was with the wire. I didn't know what he was thinking, but we were close enough to the ground, Tbag just let go and we both fell to the ground. None of the guys tried to catch us.

I landed on my stomach, and when Tbag landed it pulled a strain on my wrist, causing me to whimper in pain. I felt somebody approaching me to help me up, but they only grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me up. I looked up to see Abruzzi holding me and he was making an evil grin. He had been waiting for this moment so he could kill me. He just let go of my hair roughly though, and moved far away from where I was standing. Tbag had regained his composure and stood up pulling me along. My eyes found Tweener who was just staring at me with a worried look. At least somebody was worried about me.

We all just had to wait for Manche' and Michael to get across and we were home free. Everyone kept their eyes trained above as Lincoln signaled for Michael to get across the wire. It was absolutely dead silent. And the siren went off. The lights turned on as the alarm was blaring and everyone was looking around panicked. Michael and Manche' weren't here yet, and we couldn't leave without them? Could we? By the looks of it, Abruzzi and Tbag were just fine with taking off without them. I knew that Sucre wouldn't leave his cousin, and Lincoln absolutely would not leave his brother.

Lincoln looked panicked, but I could see the wire moving. Michael was climbing his way across. I could hear the dogs barking and the guards shouting, but they couldn't find us yet. All I knew was that we needed to hurry and get going quick, or the guys were going to get busted. I kept my eyes focused on the wire expecting to see Michael any minute. But I heard the snap first, then watched as the wire broke free and fell. Lincoln jumped into action and reached down with his arm. I covered my mouth with my free hand. I felt my heart drop to my stomach when I heard the guards on the other side of the wall start shouting at Manche'. He was yelling at them not to shoot. I had taken my eyes off of the wall, so I nearly screamed when Lincoln and Michael had jumped down from the pipe. I don't know how they did it, but I looked at them relieved. Michael looked at all of us smirking.

"Let's go."


	101. Chapter 101

_Warden Pope was fully recovered and ready to go. He could hardly believe that out of all the inmates, Michael Scofield would be the one to knock him unconscious and escape with his brother. How did he even manage it? Pope was moving fast to find Gen Pop. He could already hear the inmates cheering and he took his fingers and rubbed his eyes. He would be humiliated once everybody found out about the escape. He just had to catch Scofield before it was too late._

_The guards had informed him that they had recovered Bellick underneath the break room. Knowing how Brad was, he would be getting ready to go on the hunt. The question that kept nagging the warden was how did they even get outside? They opened the door to Gen Pop, and he stormed inside. It was an absolute mad house. The inmates had found out that there was an escape, and they were celebrating. There was toilet paper flying everywhere and the warden had to duck several times to avoid getting hit. He marched over to Scofield's cell. He checked his watch and it was nearly 8:30, so they had to of made their move during their free time. But how did they get outside? He marched into Scofield's cell and stared in shock at the missing toilet and right to the hole in the wall. _

_Michael Scofield had them all fooled. He had been planning this from the beginning. He only left the cell when one of the other guard's got his attention._

_"Sir, um.. Laney's father just arrived."_

_Oh shit, Laney's father was here. The warden still didn't even know what Laney's role in this whole thing was. He followed the guard out to meet up with Agent Collins. He also requested that Bellick meet them there before going on his hunt. Pope swallowed a dry lump in his throat as he looked at Mr. Collins. That man did not look pleasant and he could easily strip the warden of his job. He went into the office and shook Collins' hand. He gripped it firmly._

_"Pope where is my daughter?" he spat._

_The warden let out a huge exhale. He wasn't really sure how to answer that question. Just as he was getting ready to answer, two other guards came into the office. But they weren't alone. With them was an inmate. The warden couldn't remember his name, but he knew that he was Sucre's cousin. The poor overweight inmate looked scared out of his mind._

_"We caught this one trying to get over the wall," said one of the guards._

_Agent Collins stormed over to the door and quickly snatched the inmate. He roughly dragged him into the office and slammed him forward onto the desk. The warden spoke up to protest when he wrapped his arm around the inmate's neck._

_"Tell me who else was with you right now!" he shouted._

_The poor inmate started to cry and was trying to catch his breath. The warden did feel bad, but they needed to know as much detail as they could. He nodded his head encouraging the young man to speak up. _

_"Scofield. Burrows. Sucre. That Vanilla Ice kid (meaning Tweener). Bagwell. C-note. Abruzzi. The bug eyed crazy guy (meaning Haywire). And Westmoreland."_

_The warden's eyes widened in shock. He didn't think so many of them had escaped. Good lord that meant nine of them made it over the wall. Apparently, that answer did satisfy Agent Collins very much because he only gripped the inmate tighter. The inmate cried out._

_"What about the girl?"_

_"Bagwell took her with him," he choked out. _

_The warden and Collins both looked to each other. That definitely wasn't a good thing if Bagwell took Laney with them. Only God knows what was probably happening to her. The only question remaining was how did she end up in their clutches in the first place? Collins wanted that inmate out of his sight and the guards were brought in to take him away. As they were leaving, Bellick came storming into the office. He looked pretty banged up, and he had his shotgun with him. The warden could see the furious look in his eyes._

_"Why am I wasting my time in here when I need to be out finding them?" he spat._

_He looked around until he saw Agent Collins then backed down a little. He knew better than to act like this in front of a superior. Collins looked at Bellick like he was nothing short of filth. _

_"Do you know what happened?" he asked._

_Bellick stood up a little straighter._

_"They all dug a hole in the breakroom, and that is what they used to get to through the yard. Laney was with them, but she took my gun with her."_

_The warden looked back and forth between Collins and Bellick. If Laney knew about the escape ahead of time then why didn't she say anything? This whole thing could have been prevented. He thought about when she was stabbed, and she begged to stay in longer because something was happening in the prison. It was the escape, and she thought she could handle it on her own. Collins looked just as confused and maybe a little angry. _

_"She has a journal in here with her. It might tell us a little more," he said solemnly. _

_The warden agreed, but he could tell that Bellick wanted to get out there and find the inmates. He gave Bellick permission to begin the search. They had to move quickly because they had at least a half an hour start, and if they were able to find transportation, then they could be long gone. They needed to find them before anybody got hurt._


	102. Chapter 102

When we all took off running, I never guessed that we would only run across the street and hide in the bushes. Tbag roughly pushed me to the ground and set himself down next to me. The prison was still in sight and it was an absolute mad house. The lights were flashing, the alarms were going off, and the guards were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I wondered why the hell we were just sitting here when we could be getting a nice head start. The guards were starting to make their way outside the prison. I suddenly gained a burst of courage and started to scream for help. It was maybe seconds before Tbag had climbed on top of me and covered my mouth with his hand. I fought and fought to try and get him off of my back, but nothing worked. I continued to scream into his hand, but the guards couldn't hear me.

We all watched as the warden made his way out of the prison to direct the guards. They all assumed that we were long gone. I had to do a double take when I saw my father take his place next to the warden. The tears just started streaming down my face, and I wanted my father to save me.

"Dad! Daddy!" only came out as muffled cries.

I had stopped struggling against Tbag because there was no point. I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The guards quickly got into their vehicles and started driving off. I knew what the plan was. They were going to try and box the guys in, and give them nowhere to run. We all watched as the two more guards started bringing the dogs out.

"Shit, not the dogs," whispered Tbag.

Michael told everyone to not move a muscle. Everyone's eyes instantly flashed to me, and Tbag had to hold me down a little tighter. Even if I wanted to move, Tbag was holding me so tight that I couldn't. I just watched as the dogs were put in the back of the van.

"See they can't smell us," reassured Michael.

Out of nowhere, the dogs just started barking and howling like crazy. They were jumping up and down in their cages, and I glanced around to everybody's panicked faces. The dogs definitely couldn't smell us, but that didn't mean that they couldn't see us. Michael told us all to move, and everyone quickly got up and started running. Tbag got up and pulled me to my feet, and dragged me along running as fast as he could.

It was running, running, and more running. If there was anything that I hated, it was running. Plus, it wasn't easy to run when you were handcuffed to someone else, and he just liked to pull you along. And it was so dark that you really couldn't see anything, and I was afraid that I was going to run into a tree. Staring ahead, I was able to locate Tweener and I just kept my eyes on him the whole time. We rounded the corner, and I didn't notice everybody ducking under something. When we got there, Tbag ducked, but he pulled me face first right into some barbed wire. I screamed out and put my free hand up to my now bleeding face.

I just had a cut on the side of my face, but my hand was now covered in blood. Tweener hurried over to my side, where he cupped my face.

"Jesus, are you alright?"

I nodded my head, but Tbag pulled me away before I could respond. Damn, I really needed to get these handcuffs off. I looked around and watched as the guys were all clearly looking for something. I looked out in the other direction to see some sort of pond with the trees in the background. Any other situation, and this might seem beautiful. I found myself smiling at the thought of someday coming here with Tweener. Tbag pulled me along to follow the others to a small dirt road.

A van was sitting in the middle of the dirt road and the guys quickly started making their way over to it. Abruzzi called out for Lincoln to drive. I saw a cement pillar right next to the van and I suddenly had an idea. If the dogs were chasing us, then they needed a scent to follow. I would help them out with a scent. I took my bloodied hand and spread it on the cement. The dogs would surely find that. I quickly turned away and climbed into the back of the van with Tbag.

Of course, it was a tight fit, and I found myself practically sitting on top of Tbag. Lincoln and Michael were up front, and Abruzzi was sitting directly behind us. Everyone else pretty much just fit in where they could. We weren't moving yet, and Lincoln was frantically looking for the keys.

"I told you they were in the trash can over there," said Abruzzi pointing.

Lincoln sighed annoyingly and told Haywire to go get the keys. Haywire, in his own special way, quickly made his way over and was digging around for the keys (the whole time he was mumbling to himself). Everyone else had piled in the van and got the doors shut. To my surprise, Abruzzi leaned forward and handed Lincoln the keys. Everyone else chuckled at the trick.

"Aww, come on guys don't just strand him here," I said feeling guilty.

My plea only fell on deaf ears as Lincoln started up the van and pulled away. Haywire started screaming at us and we sped away.


	103. Chapter 103

**A/N: Well, here it is, the last chapter. I can't even believe it.. Thanks so much to all of the readers and reviewers, you guys are seriously the best! Wondering what is going to happen next? Don't worry because I have started outlining for the sequel. I don't know when I will get it posted, but I might be willing to share a few details in a message if you're interested! As always, enjoy =)**

It was pretty needless to say, that the ride was totally uncomfortable. I could feel every bump that we hit, and I didn't really enjoy sitting on top of Tbag. I would rather be sitting next to Tweener. I tried to glance back to look at him, but I just saw a nasty glare from Abruzzi. God, he was really upset with me. Not that I blame him, but the others weren't acting so hateful. Lincoln quickly sped over another bump, and I went flying up in the air and came crashing down onto Tbag's lap.

"Ow," I muttered rubbing the back of my neck.

I tried to move away, but Tbag only held me tighter. I looked up at him, and he was definitely up to something. He looked back to Abruzzi, who was glaring back.

"Mr. Mafia, I can't help but wonder why you chose to sit in the back seat? What are you hiding back there?" Tbag challenged.

Before I could register what was happening, Abruzzi quickly reached under the seat and pulled out his gun with the intentions of killing Tbag. Tbag, however, must have anticipated this because he pulled me completely on his lap so I was blocking the shot. What an asshole! Tbag moved so his back was against the side of the van and pulled me in front of him. Abruzzi didn't seem to mind as he pointed the gun so close that the tip of the gun was touching my forehead. I whimpered as my lower lip started to tremble.

"What the hell are you doing?" shouted Tweener who was sitting next to Abruzzi.

I looked over at him with tears welling up in my eyes. I didn't want him to watch me die like this. I looked back to Abruzzi with pleading eyes.

"If you think I won't kill her Teddy then you are seriously mistaken," he said grimly, "she betrayed me!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but instantly closed it. I knew it wouldn't matter what I had to say. I shifted trying to get around Tbag, but he only gripped me tighter. My only hope was that he could think of something to make sure I didn't get killed. I wasn't very hopeful.

"By all means we should kill the girl, but let's wait for the opportune moment. If you kill her now, then it is going to slow me down, putting everyone at risk to be caught."

"Fine have it your way, but when we are on that plane, I will un cuff you and kill you both," Abruzzi threatened.

That reminded me.

"Tbag where is the key?" I asked quietly.

Tbag roughly shoved me off of his lap and I landed onto the seat. We hit another bump, causing me to fall over onto my side. I looked over at Tbag hovering over me, and he opened his mouth wide and flashed his tongue at me. I stared at him confused for a minute, then I realized he was answering my question.

"You. Ate. The. Key." I said wide eyed.

Tbag only grinned at me, and looked away. I closed my mouth in disgust and turned my head the other way. How did he eat the key? I sort of giggled when I thought that eventually I could probably get the key back, but then gagged when the thought of it disgusted me.

Emotions were definitely running high because Sucre started rambling about touching a belly. Obviously he meant he just wanted to feel his baby, but still his rambling was weird. We hit another bump, but before I could complain about hitting my head Lincoln shouted out.

"Guys we have a problem," he said.

I looked out the window to see a road block up ahead. Boy those guards really worked fast. I wondered if they had us boxed in yet, or if this was just the first road block. The others looked on with worried expressions wondering what they were going to do. Lincoln quickly whipped the van off the road and behind a tree. Michael slowly peered at the road block. Everyone started talking at once all panicked about what to do. Some of them wanted to run the rest of the way, and some of them wanted to turn back around. I kept my eyes on Michael because I knew that he would make the decision.

"Look," Michael said pointing his finger.

All of us looked out the window to see a small dirt road leading into the forest. It was well hidden enough, and we all thought we should go for it. Lincoln quickly turned the van and slowly started moving down the dirt road. If the highway was a bumpy ride, then the dirt road was worse. I told myself if I got of this mess I would have to count the number of bruises I received from this ride. I bit my tongue, though, because I had a feeling that the guys wouldn't want to hear me whining.

I don't know if Lincoln hit something, or he just slammed on the brakes, but we all lunged forward in our seats. Tbag hit the back of the seat, and it put a strain on my wrist. Lincoln hit the gas, but we didn't go anywhere. Great, we were stuck.

"Everybody get out," ordered Michael.

One by one we filed out of the van. I tried my best to walk alongside Tweener, but Tbag was making it difficult. We looked to see that the van was stuck in a huge pile of mud. Of course. Michael told everyone to pick a side on the van and push. Lincoln hit the gas again, but the tires were just spinning. The rest of us started pushing on the van to go, but it just wouldn't budge. I gave one big push, and the tires spun again causing me to lose my balance. I shouted as I fell face first in the mud. I could feel the mud squishing between my fingers, and I lifted my face out of the mud opening my mouth. Somehow Tbag was able to keep himself from falling, but he was leaning over me. I tried to stand up and was just caked with mud. I looked over and most of the guys were avoiding eye contact with me, but Tbag was just grinning at me. I glowered at him.

"Shut up," I growled throwing mud at him.

I stood up on my own and tried to wipe some of the mud off. It was pretty clear that the van wasn't going anywhere. The next game plan was to run the rest of the way to the airport. The guys didn't waste any time taking off down the dirt road. I looked up to Tweener with hopeful eyes, but Michael was holding him back. What was he doing?

"We had a deal and this is as far as you go," said Michael.

I stared at Michael in shock. What the hell did that mean? Surely he wasn't going to strand Tweener by himself. I looked over to Tweener's worried face.

"Come on man," he tried to reason.

Michael only glared and shook his head.

"Walk," he said.

I stepped forward angrily.

"No! If he is going then I am going with him."

I started to move towards Tweener, but Tbag angrily pulled me back. I tried to get to Tweener a little more desperately, but they weren't going to let me. I just realized that I was going to be separated from Tweener, for who knows how long. I couldn't be away from him now that we were both out. How was that fair? I looked at him with the tears threatening to stream down my face. He just looked at me like he didn't know what to do.

So he just turned away and ran.

I was running behind Tbag, but I was completely checked out. Tweener was gone, he was gone and I might never get to see him again. I could see the others running in front of me, but at this point I didn't care anymore. I promised myself that if I made it through this first night, that I would devote the rest of my time trying to find Tweener. I eventually saw the lights shining over us, but I heard them first.

The helicopters.

One big helicopter was circling over us, and it was closing in fast. Tbag and I rounded the corner to see the guys just standing out in the open. What the hell were they doing? Why did they stop running? I soon found out that there was nowhere else to run. They had run right into the edge of a cliff, and the drop was huge. We all turned our heads to see the helicopter coming out from the trees. And we were all standing right in the open. Luckily, Sucre spotted some rocks to the left that we could all hide behind. Everyone quickly made their way over and tried to make themselves as small as possible. I watched as the helicopter came into view, and circled back around.

I don't know what made me do it, but I jumped up from my hiding place and started waving my arms at the helicopter. I was shouting at it and jumping up and down. I didn't expect it to work for very long, and I felt a strong force tackle me to the ground. I knew it was Tbag because of the way the handcuffs were moving. He drug me back behind the rocks, and roughly pulled back on my hair

"Laneykins you are just asking to be killed you know that," he growled.

It didn't matter if I tried anything or not. There was no way they were going to make it to the plane with the helicopter following us. Sucre must have suddenly got an idea because he took off with Lincoln and Abruzzi. That left the rest of us to figure things out for ourselves. They decided that we needed to move a little further, and we ended up running downhill. I was surprised when we discovered a barn and a lake. For a while, that would provide the cover we needed. Tbag pulled me along to sit on a log next to the lake. Again, there were a lot of beautiful locations that I would never get to enjoy in this situation. I stared off into the water and couldn't help but think of Tweener. I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes.

"You might as well just start to forget about Tweener. He is gone, and I am here," Tbag said.

I just looked over to Tbag with a mixture of shock and hurt. Did he really just say that? Anger started to boil inside me and I started to breath heavier. I pulled on my wrist as hard as I could to throw Tbag off balance.

"F*** you! I hope they catch you and you rot in that miserable cell alone for the rest of your life."

We sat in silence for a moment, but I thought I heard Tbag growl. He reached out and grabbed my chin forcing me to look at him. I could see the hatred in his eyes, and it frightened for a little bit. He didn't say anything though, he just gave his infamous grin and started to lean forward. I tried to pull my head away, but I couldn't move. When he was literally inches away, we heard Sucre call out. Tbag released my chin and I turned my head away quickly. Michael said he wanted to speak with us all in the barn. Tbag and I made our way into the barn, and everyone was watching us nervously.

Before either of us could react, two of the guys came up behind us and pushed Tbag while lifting me in the air. They slammed us down on a broken car that was sitting in the barn pulling on handcuffed hands apart. I tried to look behind me with fearful eyes.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Nobody answered me, and Sucre came into view with a pair of shears. He was trying to cut the handcuffs off. I pulled against the shears with all of my might to break the cuffs, but nothing worked. Tbag laughed his evil laugh, and I thought that I would be stuck with him forever. I turned my head again, and the next sight I witnessed was probably one of the scariest things in my entire life. Abruzzi was coming at us with an axe. I thought he was finally going to punish me for betraying him, and I cried out.

"Please John don't," I pleaded.

He didn't listen and brought the axe forward. I shut my eyes and opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Instead, the entire area was filled with a different scream. I realized something warm had sprayed on the side of my face and the strain from the handcuffs was broken. I opened my eyes and saw Tbag's now lifeless hand lying inches from face. There was blood everywhere. I screamed at the top of my lungs, and collapsed on the ground to vomit.

Everyone was staring in horror at what Abruzzi had done. Tbag was rolling on the ground, moaning in agony, and he was still bleeding everywhere. I clenched one of my hands over my stomach, and the other over my mouth to prevent me from vomiting again.

"He's just lucky I didn't take his head off," joked Abruzzi.

I turned my head slowly to look at Abruzzi. He was just staring at me blankly. He was like a completely different person. Tbag was moaning louder and louder, and if wouldn't quiet down then somebody would hear him. I slowly started to crawl my way over to him. I reached out my hand to touch his pale face.

"Shh, T it's going to be ok," I soothed, "everything is going to be ok."

I had to do something about the bleeding. There was only one thing I could think of. I quickly unbuttoned my shirt and yanked it off, revealing my black tank top. I snuggly wrapped my shirt around his arm, elicting another cry of pain.

"Tbag you need to get yourself and your hand to a doctor quickly," I instructed.

"Hey we got to go," said Lincoln.

I wanted to just sit there with Tbag to make sure he was going to be ok, but Abruzzi grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me towards the door. I knew I couldn't stay, and I took one last look at Tbag writhing on the ground before I ran outside.

We were all moving a lot faster, and we were finally reaching the airport. I could hear the sirens and the helicopters getting closer behind us. It was now or never. We just had to make it across this big open field and we were at the airport. I could see the lights from the tower. I secretly hoped to myself that both Tweener and Tbag would be ok. Maybe I would run into them again someday. The sirens were getting louder and louder. I could see the police cars starting to close in around us. We got closer and something was wrong. Where was the plane? We finally hit the runway, and I looked in every direction but I couldn't see. The guys started shouting and waving their hands at something. I turned to the light and the plane was taking off without us. We all watched as the plane flew over our heads taking our last shred of hope with it. The wind was blowing the hair around my face and I had to squint my eyes. The police cars were pulling up and everyone turned to Michael.

"What do we do now?"

"We run."

And so, we ran.


End file.
